Santa Cruz County sheriff’s Chief Deputy Chris Clark says law enforcement officers have been evacuating homes and providing security at dozens of homes in the past few days of wildfire.
Low winds and increased humidity overnight helped firefighters increase containment of the CZU Lightning Complex fires to 21 percent as of Thursday morning and officials also announced that most residents previously evacuated in San Mateo County can return to their homes.
Effective at noon today, the following areas had their evacuation orders lifted: Pescadero Beach area (ZONE: SMC- E073); Pescadero Creek County Park area (ZONE: SMC – E075); Pescadero area (ZONE: SMC – E043); San Gregorio area (ZONE: SMC – E022); La Honda area (ZONE: SMC – E028); Langley Hill and Red Barn area (ZONE: SMC – E010); Russian Ridge Open Space area (ZONE: SMC – E027); Skylonda (ZONE: SMC- E012); Portola Redwoods State Park, Portola Heights (SMC E-048); and Middleton Tract (ZONE: SMC- E044). Officials say that current evacuees should check an online database available at smcgov.org/smc-wildfire-recovery to determine if their home is now accessible before reentering the area.
The CZU fires span 81,333 acres in southern San Mateo County and northern Santa Cruz County. There has been one death and approximately 74,000 people are evacuated from both counties. After officials located one missing person, two people remain missing: 21-year-old Shane Smith and 37-year-old Micah Szoke.
“Each day we’re gaining confidence as we increase our resources on this incident,” said Cal Fire incident commander Billy See. “Each day we increase our containment efforts on this incident.”
Crews have established control lines along the northeast perimeter of the fire and along the coast. Lines in the south are also holding and protecting the community of Santa Cruz and the University of California at Santa Cruz campus, which has begun a phased reopening.
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Repopulation efforts in San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties are expected to take place over the next 48 hours. Santa Cruz County sheriff’s Chief Deputy Chris Clark said the process will be systematic, and encouraged people to check Cal Fire updates instead of waiting at checkpoints for information.
To address concerns that there would be a “footrace” between residents and burglars as repopulation takes place, Clark said that officers will maintain a presence in communities.
An infrastructure group is working to restore utilities and open roads. Damage inspection is 60 percent complete. The fires have threatened over 23,000 structures and destroyed 646 structures.
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Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
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