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Firefighter David Widaman directs water onto a tree that had exploded in flame as a fire crew defends a house northwest of Santa Cruz, Calif., Wednesday Aug. 19, 2020.
Photo: Shmuel Thler/AP Via Santa Cruz SentinelFirefighter David Widaman directs water onto a tree that had exploded in flame as a fire crew defends a house northwest of Santa Cruz, Calif., Wednesday Aug. 19, 2020.
Firefighter David Widaman directs water onto a tree that had exploded in flame as a fire crew defends a house northwest of Santa Cruz, Calif., Wednesday Aug. 19, 2020.
Firefighter David Widaman directs water onto a tree that had exploded in flame as a fire crew defends a house northwest of Santa Cruz, Calif., Wednesday Aug. 19, 2020.
Multiple wildfires are burning in Santa Cruz and San Mateo counties. Cal Fire is referring to them collectively as the CZU August Lightning Complex. CZU stands for Cal Fire's San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit and you can find fire updates and the latest evacuation information here.
LATEST, Aug. 20, 9:15 a.m. Cal Fire released a new mandatory evacuation for the Felton area in Santa Cruz County at 8 a.m. this morning. Residents of Felton and the surrounding area must evacuate immediately.
Find the complete order here.
Aug. 20, 6:35 a.m. A series of fires burning in Santa Cruz and San Mateo counties called the CZU August Lightning Complex exploded into a monstrous inferno overnight.
The fire was 25,000 acres when everyone went to bed, but on Thursday Cal Fire officials said at a 6 a.m. press briefing it had grown to 40,000 acres with zero containment. Twenty structures have been destroyed and 8,600 are threatened.
Cal Fire Operations Section Chief Mark Brunton said there was significant fire activity west of Davenport in Santa Cruz County overnight. "We had to do an evacuation of almost last minute due to the rapid approach of the fire," he said. "That is still ongoing as we speak now."
The fire also made an "extremely active run" from the west side of Empire Ridge Road, spotting over the highway and moving down into the communities of Boulder Creek and Ben Lomond. "Fires continue to threaten those communities with fire moving down into the San Lorenzo Valley," Brunton said.
The blaze is racing through a highly flammable landscape that is parched after a year marked by low rainfall. It hasn't seen a fire in years. "It's so dry it's something we have not seen historically," said Brunton. "We're seeing fire we've never seen in the coastal area before, in terms of amount and severity."
In San Mateo County, fire is threatening the communities of Pescadero and La Honda.
Brunton said when he was talking to firefighters on the scene, they all shook their heads and said, "We've never seen anything like this."
Cal Fire is fighting the CZU Complex with about 10% of the resources it would usually have for a fire of this size and severity. Brunton said due to the high number of fires spread across the state, they "are woefully short of resources." More than 500 firefighters are assigned to the incident.
An arm of the blaze raced through Big Basin Redwoods State Park on Tuesday, and officials said Wednesday night that multiple structures were destroyed, including the park’s headquarters, historic core and campgrounds. (Read more about damage to Big Basin on SFGATE.)
The approximate boundary of the CZU Lightning Complex Fire, derived from NOAA’s GOES satellite as of 7 am on Thursday, Aug. 20, 2020.
More than 20,000 people are under mandatory evacuation—with residents asked to leave their homes in locations ranging from the Pescadero Beach area to Boulder Creek — and Brunton said that number is expected to double in the next 30 hours as the fire expands rapidly in size. (Get the latest evacuation information at the Cal Fire San Mateo - Santa Cruz Unit Twitter feed.)
Evacuation centers are open at Pescadero High School, 360 Butano Cuttoff Road in Pescadero; Santa Cruz County Fairground, 2601 E. Lake Ave. in Watsonville; and Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium, 307 Church St. in Santa Cruz. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and risk of spreading the virus in centers, Cal Fire is encouraging evacuees to check with friends and family about staying with them.
Due to the heavy smoke, Cal Fire has been unable to operate complete aircraft operations, and they don't expect these conditions to improve for 48 to 72 hours. The focus now is on protecting "life and property." The lack of aircraft over the fire also means that accurate mapping of the blaze is lacking.
The CZU August Lightning Complex is named for the blazes that were sparked amid the rash of thunderstorms that moved across California early this week. Go to the Cal Fire incident page for updates, evacuations and road closures.
MORE WILDFIRE COVERAGE:
These are the fires burning in the Bay Area right now
Map: See where wildfires are burning in Bay Area
105 homes burned, 25,000 threatened by North Bay fires
Vacaville wildfire destroys homes, evacuations extended into Fairfield
California's oldest state park now completely surrounded by fire zone
What to do to keep wildfire smoke out of your house
Amy Graff is the news editor for SFGATE. Email her: agraff@sfgate.com.
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