Published 5/1/2025
In April while the hills were still green, Midpen rangers and other staff participated in an annual training under the instruction of local fire agencies to remain certified as wildland firefighters. At Midpen’s Rancho San Antonio Open Space Preserve, dozens of Midpen staff had a classroom session to refresh their fire knowledge, then practiced essential firefighting skills outdoors including mobile attacks, progressive hose lays, constructing handlines and deploying fire shelters.
Though fires rarely start within Midpen preserves, the training allows Midpen staff to be first responders to wildland fires in and around Midpen preserves as needed until responding firefighters arrive. This includes roadside fires caused by vehicles that can threaten to spread into open space lands. It also means Midpen staff are prepared to assist fire agencies with firefighting when needed and requested. Midpen rangers have water pumpers on their trucks during fire season, along with firefighting gear, and Midpen owns a water tender truck that can act as a mobile water tank when needed.
Midpen staff work year-round to reduce wildland fire severity and risk in our region by managing vegetation in the public open space preserves with a focus on ecological health and wildland fire resilience. Midpen’s Wildland Fire Resiliency Program has proactively expanded environmentally sensitive vegetation management in Midpen preserves to promote healthy, resilient, fire-adapted ecosystems; reduce wildland fire risk; and facilitate efficient response by fire agencies. Midpen has expanded its capacity through hiring new staff, partnering with organizations such as the San Jose Conservation Corps and Charter School and receiving state grant funding in support of forest health and wildland fire resiliency work.
“Fire is a fact of life in California and native plant communities in the Santa Cruz Mountain region have evolved over millennia with fire,” Midpen Senior Resource Management Specialist Coty Sifuentes-Winter said. “A changing climate, a long history of intense logging resulting in dense regrowth, coupled with fire suppression, and the fact that people cause the majority of fires in California all contribute to a longer, more intense fire season. Midpen’s Wildland Fire Resiliency program is aimed at helping Midpen meet these new challenges.”