Largest fire ever recorded on Santa Rosa Island endangers 'gem of California coast'

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A wildfire sparked by the flare of a shipwrecked mariner has burned nearly a fifth of Santa Rosa Island and marks what officials called the largest blaze recorded on the island in modern history.Firefighters ferried in personnel, equipment and pallets of supplies by boat amid gusty winds and rough seas as they raced to save sensitive wildlife, including the continent’s rarest species of pine tree.Preservationists were worried the flames could burn through pristine terrain unique to the region.“It’s one of our gems of the California coast,” said Michael Cohen, chair of the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council.

“It looks like it did 100 years ago — it’s just untouched.”The fire had burned more than 10,000 acres and was 0% contained.Flames spread up steep slopes, chewing through island chaparral, along with some grass and brush, said Mike Theune, fire information officer assigned to the incident.Two historic buildings were destroyed — Johnson’s Lee Equipment Shed and the Wreck Line Camp Cabin — along with a storage structure, he said.

A helicopter evacuated 11 employees of the National Park Service, which manages the island as part of the Channel Islands National Park, on Sunday.Flames were about a half-mile from the island’s stand of Torrey pines — one of just two places in the world where the species grows naturally, Theune said.Firefighters were seeking to contain the fire using preexisting features such as roads, ridges and trails rather than carving a fire line through the island’s sensitive ecosystems, he said.Each of the Channel Islands has endemic species and subspecies, including island foxes, that are found nowhere else, said Phyllis Grifman, vice chair of the advisory council.

“They’re kind of known as the Galapagos of [North] America.”Santa Rosa is home to six endemic plants, as well as the island spotted skunk...