Carrie Sturrock
The San Francisco Chronicle (California)
SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, Calif. — Some residents who had been forced to evacuate from their homes in the Santa Cruz Mountains last week were allowed to move back in Monday as moist weather and calmed winds helped firefighters contain 80 percent of a wildfire that has scorched 4,270 acres.
Fire officials hope to have all the evacuees back in their homes by Thursday, said Henry Dekruyff, a spokesman with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. They expect to fully contain the blaze by today and have it under control by Friday.
The fire, which started Thursday, has destroyed 36 residences and 18 outbuildings such as sheds and barns. A hundred homes remained threatened as of Monday night.
People had voluntarily evacuated 1,400 homes and authorities mandated the evacuation of 450 more, said Chris Morgan, a Cal Fire prevention specialist.
On Monday afternoon, fire officials allowed an unidentified number of people to return to their homes, which were mostly in Santa Cruz County. Those allowed to return include people with homes along Eureka Canyon Road and Rider Road to Ormsby Road; Hazel Dell Road; Buzzard Lagoon Road; Browns Valley Road; and Croy Road in Santa Clara County. People had been allowed back on Saturday on guided tours with fire officials but weren't allowed to stay.
Holly Waddle, who lives on Mount Madonna Road, said the three-bedroom home she built 33 years ago was spared even though it sits roughly 100 feet from where the blaze started. Living in a fire-prone area where winds can get as high as 125 mph, Waddle keeps a plastic container with old photos and papers handy in case she needs to flee. She grabbed those as well as her father's ashes and sped down her road after her husband spotted the blaze early Thursday morning. She said she stopped at neighbors' houses and leaned on her horn, screaming for them to leave. One of those houses ended up burning to the ground. She is grateful she can eventually return to hers.
"It's so devastating — a lot of my friends lost their homes," she said.
The Red Cross chapters in Santa Cruz and Santa Clara counties have been helping people with emergency housing and things like eyeglasses and medication prescriptions. They're also continuing to provide mental health services as people anxiously wait to hear whether their homes were spared by the fire, said Cynthia Shaw, director of marketing and communication for the Santa Clara Valley chapter of the Red Cross.
"Mentally it's very hard," she said. "These are also very resilient people."
Firefighters have finished building 10 miles of containment lines to halt the fire's progression with the help of bulldozers that have cleared away burnable materials such as trees and brush, said Morgan. The fire started near Maymens Flats off Summit Road in an unincorporated area west of Morgan Hill and has been moving south and southwest.
"There has been a lot of hard firefighting going on," Morgan said.
Firefighters have sustained six injuries, including strains, sprains and dehydration, since the blaze began, Morgan said. There have been no civilian injuries reported.
On Monday, 2,631 firefighters were battling the flames, using 171 engines, three air tankers, seven helicopters and 24 bulldozers.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
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