Residents and merchants in Point Reyes Station, Inverness and Olema have one ask for travelers seeking refuge from the heat along the coast this Labor Day weekend — “please stay away.”
“There was a surge in coronavirus cases after Memorial Day and we are barely recovering from that. We are not ready for another surge,” said resident Heather Oakley, an administrative assistant with West Marin Community Services who said she worries about seniors’ vulnerability to COVID-19. “As a community we hope people are respectful, stay away and allow the firefighters to do their work. Please stay away.”
The Woodward fire, which has burned 4,704 acres in the Point Reyes National Seashore since it was sparked by lightning on Aug. 18, was 71% contained on Friday morning. It is the primary source of the smoke blanketing Marin County and other parts of the Bay Area, according to the Bay Area Air Quality Management District.
With a heat wave expected to bring some of the hottest temperatures of the year to Marin over the holiday weekend, firefighters on Friday took advantage of the morning marine layer and lit backfires along Limantour Road to clear vegetation and create a barrier against the blaze.
Crews have finished building containment lines around the rest of the fire and will continue to patrol and reinforce them, officials said.
The warmer and drier weather this weekend could cause the fire to flare up into the canopy of the forest, said John Trapp, a fire behavior analyst for the incident management team. That increases the likelihood of flying embers sparking spot fires outside of the containment lines, he said.
Temperature highs are expected to reach the upper 90s to low 100s on Saturday in Marin County, according to the National Weather Service. On Sunday, which is expected to be the hottest day of the year, highs between 104 and 108 are in the forecast.
Marin County officials are set to open cooling centers from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday at three locations in the county. Those include the Margaret Todd Senior Center at 1560 Hill Road in Novato, the Mill Valley Community Center at 180 Camino Alto in Mill Valley and the San Rafael Community Center at 618 B St. in San Rafael. Coronavirus safety protocols will be in place, officials said.
In West Marin, residents could see the smoke coming off the backburns near Limantour Road blend into the fog rolling over the ridge on Thursday as they ran errands in downtown.
Fewer people have visited Point Reyes Station since the Woodward fire began, said Christine DeCamp as she walked down the sidewalk with her St. Bernard “Sampson.”
“It’s been very slow. Usually at this time of the year there are people all over the place, but it’s not been that way,” DeCamp said. “The restaurants have had a hard time because they can’t serve anyone inside. They have to eat outside, take it home or somewhere else. People still want to go eat out, but they can’t sit outside because it’s all smoky. It’s awful.”
West Marin Chamber of Commerce President Frank Borodic said Point Reyes Station has permanently lost two restaurants since the pandemic started, the Station House Cafe and Osteria Stellina. He added that the fire burning has compounded an already complicated situation for business owners and residents.
“Some businesses do well with increased foot traffic, small retail shops and restaurants,” said Borodic, who lives in Olema. “But we have limited capacity out here, with a few grocery stores, gas stations and things like that. So a lot of the locals look at the increase crowding negatively because it competes with their ability to move around in their own community.
“This fire is the primary issue for us going forward. As soon as we handle the negative aspects of this fire, the faster we can move along with getting the economy back on track,” Borodic said. “But, overall, most people who live and work here would appreciate less people coming out this weekend.”
Oakley said residents, businesses and nonprofits in the tight-knit community have come together to help working families overcome food and housing insecurities through donations to food pantries and rental assistance programs.
Inverness resident Marc Matheson works in Stinson Beach. He said he anticipates throngs of people visiting the coast to escape the heat.
“Inverness and Point Reyes was literally inundated with people walking around town with no masks,” Matheson said, referring to earlier this summer. “The Palace Market was completely overwhelmed. They even had to post a bouncer outside several times. As local resident I had to wait 20 minutes to get into our own supermarket because tourist were buying picnic supplies.
“With the smoke it’s not healthy to be here now,” he said. “But it’s going to be hot over the hill and cool along the coast. So even though there’s fire and smoke we are expecting to see Stinson, Point Reyes Station and that area invaded again.”
Some stores, such as PR Building Supply in Point Reyes Station and IP Market in Inverness, have announced they will be closed this weekend.
“The smoke out here is pretty bad right now and the park is closed so there is no place for visitors to come,” said Dan Thompson, owner of IP Market. “But also business has been so slow during the park’s closure and now the fire, it’s not worth our time to be open for the weekend.”
Thompson said revenue has dropped by 75% of what it was pre-pandemic. He added that he is not closing to deter visitors, but because he is concerned about people’s health.
“I love customers. It’s what I do, and I think there is not much of a risk of it being that busy out here,” he said. “There are many layers to it.
“There is so much stuff going on right now with the pandemic and with the fire; it’s been a tough year and everyone is exhausted and a bit afraid,” he said. “It comes down to taking care of my staff primarily.”
He said he is grateful for the firefighters who have worked tirelessly to prevent a disaster.
Theadora Carlile and Jim Smith moved to Point Reyes Station in May.
“It’s been hard fitting in because we are wearing a mask all the time and people can’t recognize our faces. So we make sure to wear the same color mask,” Carlile said. “With all the smoke from the fire, our daughter, son-and-law and their two kids are not coming here because the air is so unhealthy right now.”
While sparse, there were a few visitors in town Thursday riding bikes, window shopping or picking up food from the handful of restaurants in town. All were masked.
Owner of Black Mountain Cycles Mike Varley said his business has been able to stay afloat because he sells his own brand of bicycle frames online and does not rely on tourists who may stop by for minor repairs.
Varley said it’s a complicated situation because not every visitor adheres to county health orders.
“It’s difficult to manage 6 feet of social distance when a lot of people come into town,” Varley said “I think a lot of them were from the Central Valley, where it’s more conservative and people don’t want to wear masks.”
Bodoric said fire season is on everyone’s minds right now, but once it’s over West Marin has to rebuild an economy that was heavily impacted by the pandemic.
“Right now the immediate impact of fire is paramount, but going into the winter season, business is going to be slower. How do we deal with this?” he said. “And in 2021 how do we create jobs that were lost and rebuild the economy going forward. We are just beginning to talk about that.”