Firefighters brace for more challenges

Officials reported Sunday morning that they had had success in the previous 24 hours with the CZU Lightning complex fires in Santa Cruz and San Mateo counties, but they posed more challenges as a new weather system launches more dry lightning and possible wildfire.

As of 6 a.m. Sunday, the fire had burned 71,000 acres and contained 8%, with more than 24,000 structures threatened and 129 structures destroyed, Cal Fire officials said. It was unclear how many of those structures were residential and commercial structures.

Officials also reported that 1,349 personnel, including some from the state, were fighting the CZU fires.

A break in the weather Saturday allowed firefighters to achieve some of their strategic goals, officials said.

A car of a fire commander in the evacuation zone was broken into while the commander was directing personnel, officials said. The unidentified thief as thieves stole personal belongings, including his wallet, and ran his bank accounts. amtners sei.

“That’s the extent to which these people have gone,” said Cal Fire Chief Mark Brunton.

Elsewhere, the larger SCU Lightning Complex, with fires in Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa, Stanislaus, and San Joaquin, continued to expand, reaching about 340,000 acres, containing 10 percent from 7 p.m.

Cal Fire officials issued a direct evacuation board in Alameda County south of Welch Creek Road to the fire perimeter at 3 a.m. Sunday and the Alameda / Santa Clara County line east of Calaveras Road at Welch Creek Road to the fire perimeter.

In the northern zone of the CZU Lightning complex, clear skies on Saturday allowed firefighters to use six water-stripping helicopters to shower the area all day, slow down the movement of the fire and allow crews to line up, officials said. .

Beaches in Half Moon Bay are closed, officials said.

In the southern zone, firefighters improved their secondary line above UC Santa Cruz and mitigated the spread south to Santa Cruz and Capitola.

In the Boulder Creek area, officials said they were able to keep the fire well above that community, but smoke conditions remained severe. Some progress has been made, officials said, but not as much as they would like.

In the Ben Lomond area, officials said the fire did not progress further than the top quarter of Alba Road.

“That’s where we had a significant amount of resources yesterday and until yesterday to protect the Ben Lomond community,” Brunton said.

Progress has been slow in the Bonnie Doon area, where the fire is widespread, officials said. But there were no reports of structural damage last night, which firefighters saw as a gain seeing the heavy damage in that community all week.

Officials urged people to stay away from the evacuated zones.

Saturday night was pretty quiet in Sonoma County, and firefighters managed to keep the Walbridge Fire from significant new impulses to the towns of Healdsburg or Guerneville, Cal Fire officials said Sunday during their morning briefing on the LNU Lightning Complex fires.

The same was true for the Hennessy Fire in Lake County.

“They could certainly make some progress,” Cal Chuffble spokesman Jeff Chumbley said.

But that could all change Sunday night.

Cal Fire officials warned crews to be alert for any firefighters worst – more dry lightning strikes – especially after 6 p.m.

‘We do not know what will happen. Will there be another start, and what does that mean? “Chumbley said, ‘It’s definitely a concern.’

New fires would distribute even thinner crews even thinner. Firefighters returning to Calistoga base camp to rest can be immediately called to a fire, Chumbley said.

The forecast also predicts drier weather Sunday than in recent days, Cal Fire officials warned. And Sunday night is expected to see erratic wind gusts – which could stimulate dangerous, sudden changes in the direction of fire.

“We’ll see what happens,” Chumbley said. “Tonight will be very interesting.”

After a week on the fire lines, firefighters are tired. Robert Johnson, battalion commander for the Sonoma County Fire District, said his team worked two- and three-day shifts, catching short napkes in the front seats of their fire engines and trucks.

“It’s been a long time coming and it’s been a gravel pit,” he said Saturday night as he checked the Chembridge Road Walbridge Fire in Healdsburg. He has been on fire since Monday.

But that’s the job, Johnson said.

“If you’re on the line and there’s no one freeing you and there are still structures threatened, you can not really leave,” he said.