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Firefighters make strides against wildland fires [Santa Cruz Sentinel, Calif.]
Jan. 23 SANTA CRUZ As rain showers fell, firefighters continued to make more headway on containing the remaining fires in Santa Cruz and San Mateo counties.
“Last night simmered everything down, we’re pulling the last of the hose team off the fires earlier today…the rain we got last night pretty much put everything out,” Cal Fire San Mateo Santa Cruz CZU Unit Chief Rich Sampson said Friday.
“Now it’s pretty much in monitor mode,” Sampson said.
The Freedom Fire, which ignited in the Aptos Hills and triggered evacuations for 100 households earlier in the week, stood at 37 acres and 85% contained as of Thursday afternoon.
Wildfires largely contained after powerful Santa Ana winds took down power lines by Bethany Blankley, The Center Square | January 21, 2021 09:30 AM Print this article
At least a dozen fires ignited across Santa Cruz and San Mateo counties after powerful Santa Ana winds blew in Tuesday, causing evacuations in several areas. By Wednesday, mandatory evacuations were lifted.
“Evacuation orders were lifted in Freedom and Panther Fires,” CAL FIRE San Mateo - Santa Cruz Unit announced shortly before 2 p.m. Pacific.
On Tuesday, a significant wind event swept through San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties, which resulted in downed trees, tree limbs, and power lines across the region, and “presumably sparked more than 18 vegetation fires within an 18-hour time period,” CAL FIRE San Mateo-Santa Cruz reported. “Winds continued to hamper firefighting efforts throughout the day, but as night fell, conditions improved. Firefighters were able to grow
Cal Fire Chief: ‘We weren’t prepared for this in January’ [Santa Cruz Sentinel, Calif.]
Jan. 21 SANTA CRUZ Winds that likely ignited at least 20 fires across Santa Cruz and San Mateo counties have died down, and firefighters seized the opportunity Wednesday, making progress on containing the blazes into the evening.
The two major fires are the Freedom Fire, north of Watsonville in the Aptos Hills, and the Panther Ridge Fire in Boulder Creek. Those two blazes triggered evacuation orders for at least 120 households. All residents placed under those orders were allowed to repopulate as of Wednesday afternoon.
Cal Fire CZU San Mateo Santa Cruz Unit Chief Ian Larkin said though many of the fires across Santa Cruz and San Manteo counties are nearing containment, that crews were still on the attack.
UpdatedTue, Jan 19, 2021 at 3:24 pm PT
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(Bea Karnes/Patch)
SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, CA Some 25,000 Santa Cruz County Pacific Gas & Electric Co. customers were in the dark as of 3 p.m. Tuesday as strong, gusty winds blew across California.
The hardest-hit areas included Scotts Valley (6,400 affected), Boulder Creek (2,900 affected), Aptos Hills-Larkin Valley (2,700 affected) Watsonville (2,300 affected), Interlaken (1,700 affected) and Santa Cruz (1,200 affected).
Just to the north, more than 50,000 Bay Area PG&E customers were without power during the height of the outages, said spokesperson Tamar Sarkissian in an email. About 40,000 of those customers had their power restored by 1 p.m.
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Dry, windy weather prompted PG&E to shut off power to 5,200 across seven counties in Central California and the Central Coast in an attempt to avoid a possible equipment-sparked wildfire.