Fire chief: Prescott Preserve blaze highlights urban wildfire challenges

A Feb. 1 fire that burned 3.5 acres and 100 palm trees at the Prescott Preserve was quickly contained with no injuries or property damage — but it underscored the ongoing threat of wildfire in Palm Springs’ urban landscape, Fire Chief Paul Alvarado told city councilmembers Wednesday evening.

The fire broke out near the pond area of the former golf course that the Oswit Land Trust purchased in 2022. The 120-acre property sits adjacent to residential neighborhoods.

The department deployed eight fire engines, one wildland fire engine, a water tender and 36 firefighters, with mutual aid from CalFire and the Cathedral City Fire Department. Despite the rapid response, the fire “highlights the challenges of a fire with heavy natural fuels in the urban environment,” said Alvarado.

Dense palm stands create continuous fuels for fires, and low-hanging palm skirts help carry a ground fire up to the tree canopy, Alvarado said. Once a fire reaches the tops of palm trees, there’s high potential for embers to fly into the air and cause spot-fires.

“Fires involving dense palm tree stands will occur at any time of year, and in natural or manicured properties,” stated a “Lessons Learned” section of the Alvarado’s presentation.

“Had there been any incoming wind, west wind, south wind, east wind, north wind, the consequences would have been drastic,” one nearby resident said at Wednesday’s meeting.

Still, Alvarado said the department was well-prepared to quickly contain the fire.

“The fires are not new to the Palm Springs Fire Department,” he said. “There’s a long history of wildland urban interface fires here, and our team is well trained and prepared for those. And you see that fire, as extreme as it looked, how quickly it was knocked down and recovery began.”

As of Wednesday, the cause of the fire is still undetermined, “although human cause and origin could not be ruled out,” said Alvarado.

Jane Garrison of Oswit Land Trust has said that the organization believes the fire was human-caused.

“It is important to be clear that this fire was not caused by dry conditions,” Garrison said earlier this month. “The preserve is healthy and green.”

The land trust has since cleaned up the property to the point that all trails are now reopened, according to Veronica Goedhart, code compliance director.

The city’s code compliance team conducted onsite inspections at the preserve in the spring of 2024 and identified priority areas of concern that included “vegetation overgrowth along property lines adjacent to nearby residential structures and accumulation of dead and dry vegetation in other areas of the preserve,” which required mitigation to create defensible space.

The land trust focused on creating a 30-foot defensible space buffer along the preserve’s perimeter, according to Goedhart, which included removing dead or decaying trees and clearing fallen debris, along with other actions.

“Since that time, Oswit staff has provided regular biweekly progress reports detailing the specific areas addressed and the volume of vegetation and trees cleared,” said Goedhart. “They have also worked cooperatively with code compliance to promptly address any immediate concerns as they arise. Maintaining the preserve requires ongoing and substantial efforts.”

The land trust currently has a reliable group of staff and volunteers who perform regular maintenance, and code compliance continues to monitor the property, according to Goedhart.

“The containment really ensured that there’s been no loss of property, but it is a devastating loss, even just environmentally and visually in our community,” said Mayor Naomi Soto, who noted ongoing engagement with residents living near the preserve dating back years.

“We hear you, and we think it’s so important that we’re able to maintain an active dialog, and ensure that we are working with our code compliance with our fire department to ensure that our residents are safe and this is a public space that can be beautiful and useful for our residents.”

The city plans on meeting with members of the Mesquite Country Club next week to discuss the fire further. Wednesday’s discussion wasn’t on the city council meeting agenda, and councilmember Ron deHarte asked that another post-fire review be agendized for a future meeting so that more community members can participate.

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