Courtesy of Kathy Kirkpatrick An aerial photo shows the damage done in November by a 13-acre fire on Santa Cruz Island.

When a fire tore across Catalina Island last week and the Navy dispatched a hovercraft full of firefighting equipment, Kathy Kirkpatrick couldn't help but wonder how she could get one of those in a pinch.

If a fire starts spreading over any of the five islands in Channel Islands National Park, it's Kirkpatrick's job to make sure that one of the last great swaths of natural land in Southern California is defended.

"It's a challenge, but it's not outside of the scope of the skills of the wildland firefighters," said Kirkpatrick, a fire management officer for the National Park Service.

Due to a combination of cool, wet weather and limited human influence, fires on the five-island archipelago are relatively uncommon. Since 1932, only 32 fires have burned on the islands, she said. The largest was in 1932 on Santa Cruz Island and was started by humans. It charred 7,570 acres, Kirkpatrick said.

When blazes start, like the recent one that burned 13 acres on Santa Cruz Island in November, Kirkpatrick has a detailed plan of how to put them out.

Wildland firefighting crews from Los Padres National Forest are flown to the island on 10-person helicopters to put out fires by hand. A plane flies overhead to monitor hot spots and direct the fight. If hand crews need assistance, helicopters dump water scooped from the ocean onto the flames.

Beyond the challenges of fighting fire in a remote location, preserving all the park's natural and cultural resources while putting out fires poses other issues, Kirkpatrick said. The use of bulldozers to create fire lines is not an option because they could destroy the natural habitat that the Park Service has spent years trying to rehabilitate.

The islands are home to a fox rehabilitation program where many are held in pens while they grow up. If a fire were to come through, biologists would either open the doors and set them free or transport them, she said.

From the Anacapa Lighthouse to the ranch house on Santa Rosa that is oldest wooden home in Santa Barbara County, scores of historical buildings need to be protected.

Jim Youngson, spokesman for the Vail family that owns the ranch on Santa Rosa, said they are constantly concerned about the threat of fire. Since cows were removed from the island in 1998 and grazing stopped, grass is higher, giving the family concern, he said.

Although the Vails do weed abatement around the old wooden structures and have plenty of fire extinguishers, they mainly rely on firefighting efforts of the Park Service.

In some ways, a fire could be good because it would destroy some of the non-native vegetation the Park Service wants gone. But some exotic species, such as thistle and mustard, would grow back the quickest after fires, outcompeting the native species that need long intervals between fires to survive.

The best thing is to avoid fires altogether, Kirkpatrick said.

Because lightning rarely strikes the islands, the biggest threat is human-caused fires. The November fire was ignited by a Jeep.

When Santa Ana winds, which are not as severe on the islands, are blowing, the Park Service will limit certain activities, such as using metal-bladed equipment that could send sparks into the dry grasslands. Campfires are never allowed.

But if something does happen, Kirkpatrick said, they are ready.

"It is logistically difficult," she said. "But like all fire agencies, we have done our pre-planning."