![]() ![]() In some areas, the sun was seen as a red dot. The smoke was thick in the sky even in Aptos. (Click to enlarge,) Red houses in black circles show 90+% damage. The sky was darkened with smoke, sometimes blocking the sun from view. Even areas 20 miles away were being covered with smoke, making it difficult to breath. Neighborhoods from Swanton Road to Empire Grade were in danger.ĭuring the first week of the fire, ashes and burned leaves were falling on neighborhoods as far south as Watsonville. Thousands of people had to be evacuated in Boulder Creek, Ben Lomond, Bonny Doon, Brookdale, and Felton, A voluntary evacuation of Scotts Valley was recommended. One fatality, Tad Jones, the Last Chance Road resident who lost his life trying to escape the fires. The Sheriff Office reported over a dozen arrests for looting. Others reported looters to the Sheriff and a few were able to run off looters. Some formed fire teams to look for spot fires. Hundreds of residents chose to stay in the mountains. According to the California Department of Forestry, the fire officially completed Septemat 8:00pm. Repopulation of the evacuated areas in the Santa Cruz Mountains began September 20. More structures were damaged in this fire than the earthquake of 1988. It lasted through August and into September. About 1,490 structures were destroyed and about 140 structures were damaged. They joined and became a forest fire covering over 135¾ Square miles (over 86,500 acres). In Santa Cruz County and San Mateo County, several fires started about 6:41 AM. (Larger than the island of Oahu, Hawaii.) Here is an enclave of people whose lives in these mountains is a throwback to an almost lost era amid the fragile beauty that is nature and Jones was the lone soul who celebrated its wildness. There, his remains were discovered in his charred minivan, on Last Chance Road. The largest -SCU Lightning Complex Fire- covered an area over 600 square miles. Tad Jones went missing when a search party bravely went back for him. There were about a dozen major fires at the same time. On August 16, 2020, a lightning storm caused as many as 13,000 lightning bolts to strike the ground in several places in Northern California.
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