CZU Fires: Evacuees Start To Return; 81,500 Acres, 24% Contained

SAN MATEO-SANTA CRUZ COUNTY LINE, CA — Firefighters battling the CZU August Lightning Complex fires are looking to bolster fire control lines and have begun a controlled burn operation in hopes to make a barrier against communities that have been threatened by the blaze.

Nearly 2,000 first responders are battling the wildfires that have scorched more than 81,500 acres. Containment is at 24 percent.

Nearly 650 buildings have been destroyed by the flames, including just 11 in San Mateo County. See which buildings have been damaged in Santa Cruz County here.

Some residents of evacuation zones got good news Thursday. In Santa Cruz County, Scotts Valley, Paradise Park and the Cave Gulch area got the go-ahead to return home, as did most residents of evacuated areas in San Mateo County.

Residents were asked to avoid closed roads to refrain from putting themselves in danger and expect to see a heavy first responder presence — especially in Scotts Valley, where the fire operations base camp is located, according to Cal Fire.

More firefighters continued to arrive on scene Wednesday. Crews have begun moving deeper into the fire and are looking to make the areas safe, with an eye toward repopulation of evacuation zones.

Look at this amazing and beautiful marine layer! #SCCStrong #SMCStrong #CZULightningComplex pic.twitter.com/EthbunXELP
— CAL FIRE CZU (@CALFIRECZU) August 26, 2020

Firefighters began a burn operation late Wednesday afternoon in hopes to create a barrier around Felton and south of Ben Lomond, said Mark Brunton of Cal Fire in a Thursday morning news conference. They called it off about halfway to three-quarters of the way through due to weather conditions and planned to pick efforts up again Thursday.

Crews are cleaning up roadways and restoring utilities in areas such as Davenport, Highway 1 and Bonny Doon, looking to get residents back home in the near future. Officials remind the public that when they get the all-clear to head home, they should be cognizant of first responders still working in these areas.

"We're using all the tools that we have available to us to work on extinguishing these fires and work on getting everybody's lives back to normal," Brunton said Wednesday.

Evacuation orders were lifted for the University of California, Santa Cruz campus Wednesday. With drier, windier days ahead, crews will see whether fire control lines established in the area will hold, Brunton said. So far this week, firefighters have retained control of the fire control line.

Weather conditions, including the return of a marine layer above the region, are aiding firefighters in their efforts, officials said Wednesday. Firefighters are planning to move to control more of the fire in the days to come.

Though officials have reported improved weather this week, the National Weather Service spotted ice plants burning along the coast — an "extremely rare sight," according to NWS.

"It made our jaws drop," NWS wrote.

An @NWS_IMET_OPS on the #CZULightingComplex grabbed thisup Hwy1 today. This is extremely rare to see these plants burn. Volume up, it made our jaws drop.#cawx pic.twitter.com/IKbLRsUiEl
— NWS Bay Area (@NWSBayArea) August 26, 2020

Clearer skies have made way for continued aerial firefighting efforts. More than 250,000 gallons of water were dropped on the blaze Tuesday and 1.6 million gallons have been dropped since the beginning of the incident.

Limited water drop operations took place Wednesday due to the weather, but firefighters expect to carry out more in the days ahead, Brunton said.

Though the fires have torn through the 18,000-acre Big Basin Redwoods State Park, experts say the park's ancient trees are resilient. The Associated Press found many old-growth redwoods survived.

Read: Ancient Big Basin Redwoods Survive Wildfires: Report

Officials continue to ask the public to remain out of the fire zone.

This is a developing story; check back for updates.

View a map of the fire, and more information on evacuation orders, road closures and shelters here.

Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the number of homes burned in Scotts Valley.