by Mary Pope-Handy | Jul 24, 2012 | Belgatos Park, News, Photos & Videos
A fire was set, apparently by three kids, in Belgatos Park this afternoon. (Whether by accident or on purpose remains to be known.) Homes were evacuated along Santa Rosa and flames got terribly close to houses on Westhill Drive, but fortunately no residences were harmed by the blaze. Fire fighters arrived by land and air very quickly, and within an hour, the fire was under control.
Fire in Belgatos Park near side entrance on Bacigalupi Drive. Photo by Trish McCauley trish.mccauley@gmail.com
At the time of its eruption, I was in central San Jose at a listing presentation. When I got out, around 4:30pm, I checked messages and had a text from my friend and wonderful pet-sitter, Trish McCauley, who alerted me to the situation. She also took a couple of photos. At left is one she took from Bacigalupi Drive at the intersection with Belwood Gateway.
Luckily, though, the word got out about the fire via social media, too:
For those of you who are on Facebook, there’s a group called Belwood Area Residents with great info shared. Pauline Wilson broke the news there at 3:33pm today. Photos posted by Dave Klenske of the work going on to contain the fire by air and the smoldering fire too. If you are on FB and a resident, join the group if you haven’t done so already and have a peek at his pics: http://www.facebook.com/groups/105901399446505/
Mention was also made on the Nextdoor site for the neighborhood too by Kate Carr – many thanks for spreading the word! (If you haven’t joined, please do!) Http://www.belwood-belgatos.nextdoor.com.
(Unless you happen to be connected to someone who sees the fire and alerts you, it’s great to get an update by a large group of neighbors such as we find on Nextdoor and Facebook, so I highly encourage everyone to join both sites.)
Back to our household – Jim was out at an appointment at the same time that I was, too, but when we converged at home, he and our daughter, Clair, walked up to the park to see what, if anything, was still going on. He spoke with Ranger Dave Gray, who said that 3 kids (appx age 10?) were seen running from the area when the fire started. Jim also chatted with a neighbor, who said she saw the kids running away and explained that they were “young teenagers”.
Clair, meanwhile, kindly took a lot of photos for me so that I could share them with anyone else who wasn’t around when everything happened. Below are the photos she took for this blog.
Belgatos Park, Los Gatos, Fire July 23 2012 - scorched grassy area by Bacigalupi Drive gate
“Cardboard hill” is a blackened mess right now.
Firefighters cleaning up July 23 2012 at Belgatos Park, Los Gatos
After several hours of work, the firefighters rolled up hoses and prepared to call it a day.
Firetrucks close up at Belgatos Park, Los Gatos
There were multiple fire trucks and other vehicles from the Santa Clara County Fire Department, but also helicopters and planes from the CDF involved today.
Ranger Dave Gray on the scene at the Belgatos Park, Los Gatos, fire cleanup
UPDATE: Patch Los Gatos reports today that 3 14 year old boys were involved, one of whom started the blaze using lighter fluid. The teen, a resident of San Jose, was arrested, charged with felony arson and has since been released to his parents. Read the article here:
http://losgatos.patch.com/articles/fire-at-belgatos-park-burns-3-acres
by Mary Pope-Handy | Feb 5, 2012 | Belgatos Park
This last week, a neighbor saw a bobcat come out of the gate on Bacigalupi Drive in Belwood of Los Gatos and head uphill along the road, toward the top of Bacigalupi. Nearby, another resident’s house cat was killed, presumably by the same bobcat.
Please be aware, especially if you are close to Belgatos Park or any big expanses of open space that wildlife may harm you, your children and your pets and take the necessary precautions. In addition to bobcats, we also have racoons, possum, and more significantly, mountain lions and coyotes.
See homes for sale in the Belwood, Belgatos and Surmont neighborhoods here, or call/email me for updated info as I sometimes also know about houses coming on the market soon.
by Mary Pope-Handy | Oct 26, 2011 | Belgatos Park
When trees are pruned, fall or are removed at Belgatos Park in Los Gatos, what happens to them? Many, if not all, are recycled on the spot and become wood mulch for use back in the same park. The path between the side gate on Bacigalupi Drive and the parking lot at Belgatos Park is the occasional recipient of tanbark or mulch. This makes walking the area after a rain a whole lot safer (less slippery) and pleasant (since heavy mud doesn’t stick to feet – or paws).
Saw this the other day and chuckled to see part of a yellow plastic tape included with the mulch (probably used to advise people to keep away from an unstable tree). Also noticed that a small hole had been burrowed into one pile already – I imagine that for the time being, the mound makes an ideal home for a field mouse or two.
Los Gatos is a “Tree City USA” town. Isn’t it nice to know that even when a tree dies or has to be removed, it’s still useful and immediately recycled into the same park?
by Mary Pope-Handy | Oct 19, 2011 | Belgatos Park, Belwood, Photos & Videos, Trails
Yesterday Jim and I attended the Los Gatos Creekside Sports Park kickoff celebration (will nearly touch Vasona Lake County Park and is just off of University Avenue) and as we often do, drove east on Blossom Hill Road to get home. Straight ahead of us, hanging over south San Jose and Santa Teresa and extending north, was a huge and darkened cloud. Smoke? Smog? Rainclouds?
We drove up Harwood Road and to the top of Harwood Court to get a better view of it. It did look like it started in south San Jose or further south than that. Some hikers were trekking up the challenging hill and we asked them if they knew if it were a fire. “Can’t smell it,” one replied “so it must be smog – just awful!” Smog, though, tends to dissipate from side to side and not hang together so tightly as what we saw.
View from Harwood Court in Los Gatos of the smokey skies created by the Cal Fire "controlled burn" in south county
We flipped on KLIV, the San Jose based AM radio station (channel 1590) that best covers local news & traffic, and learned right away that it was a controlled burn. This morning I googled the fire and learned that it’s a 2 day burn at part of Henry Coe State Park, overseen by Cal Fire, with more scheduled for today.
The Morgan Hill Times reports that “The prescribed burn is part of the ‘Western Zone Complex’ controlled fire in the remote area of the park. The fire will take place on the Middle Ridge Trail off Hobbs Road, about eight miles northeast of Morgan Hill, according to Calfire fire prevention specialist Chris Morgan. “
by Mary Pope-Handy | Sep 30, 2011 | Belgatos Park, Photos & Videos, Recreation
“Cardboard Hill” is a much beloved spot in Belgatos Park, but sometimes it looks more like “big trash hill” when the cardboard sledders neglect to clean up after themselves. Pack it in, pack it out! This is true for all the wonderful parks and trails in Los Gatos.
Here are a few shots from a couple days ago – typical fun on a sunny September afternoon.
About a half dozen kids gather to slide down “cardboard hill” at Belgatos Park in Los Gatos.
What goes up with some work comes down with some fun at Cardboard Hill.
Sliding down “cardboard hill” at Belgatos Park in the Belwood neighborhood of Los Gatos. (more…)
by Mary Pope-Handy | Sep 12, 2011 | Belgatos Park
On Friday, September 9th, in the late morning a brush fire ignited at the Heintz Open Space Preserve in east Los Gatos (close to Belgatos Park, the Heritage Grove neighborhood and Surmont area). Jim and I were at home, working at our computers that morning, and our first hint of the problem was the repeated flyovers by low flying airplanes and seemingly omnipresent helicopter nearby. It seemed like another “fire drill” of sorts – except that this time there were several planes plus the helicopter.
Turns out it was a very small fire not so far out of reach from the fire hydrant at the Heritage Grove neighborhood where the trailhead is…just a couple of sitchbacks up the trail.
Jim hiked up there yesterday and took some photos of the burned trail area, which we hope you’ll enjoy.
Here’s a photo of the fire at the switchback. No lightening when this broke out. What caused it – a cigarette?
And…
Finally, here’s what the fire retardant looks like after the fact – orange goo all over the plants and trees which didn’t burn.
So the next time we all gripe about the planes flying over Belwood, let’s be grateful that they practice and that the little fires don’t turn into big ones!
by Mary Pope-Handy | Apr 2, 2011 | Belgatos Park, Photos & Videos
I took these images in the Spring of 2007. You can view more slideshows of Los Gatos and the greater Silicon Valley community by visiting the following link, which goes to the category of my community shows:
Los Gatos and Silicon Valley Community Photo Slideshows by Mary Pope-Handy
