If you saw an ominous plume of smoke hovering over the South Bay foothills Thursday, don't be alarmed. It was a controlled burn.
Cal Fire, at the request of the Santa Clara County Parks department, was burning up invasive plants such as Medusa head and mustard grass, all growing wild and taking over the habitat of native plants on Mount Hamilton.
The burn is part of a 288-acre operation that Santa Clara Cal Fire has been planning since last year – with a lot of precautions taken.
The burn serves as good experience for many crews as the heart of the fire season arrives.
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
"Here, currently, we have a lot of influx of new operators, engineers, captains and firefighters, both on our hand crews and our engines," Cal Fire Battalion Chief Cole Periera said. "This is their first taste, for a lot of them, just for that fire atmosphere."
The wet winter and resulting vegetation has thrown Cal Fire off its usual schedule for certain projects, but getting rid of the invasive species has to happen during a certain window, regardless of the temperatures outside.
"We need to burn at the right time of the year when the native grasses have dropped their seed," Cal Fire forester Ed Orre said. "The Medusa head and yellow thorn thistle, those seeds are still on the plant and susceptible to burning."
Local
Cal Fire also got a chance to work and coordinate with drones operated by Spring Valley Fire.
"Gives us a better eye in the sky," Periera said. "We can drop at lower levels than our chopper can. It’s got thermal imaging, so any hotspots we need for control efforts and for any spots after the fact we have outside the lines."
