Two days after it started, 670 firefighters, 120 engines, and 20 aircraft have as yet been unable to get the Lockheed Fire at Bonny Doon under control. As of Friday morning it had torched 4,100 acres and was only 5 percent contained. About 2,400 locals, including the entire population of Bonny Doon, have been ordered to evacuate. The fire is especially severe because it covers an area of dry brush and timber that has not seen a fire in at least six decades. CalFire spokeswoman Julie Hutchinson says that problem is aggravated by the “rural, inaccessible, steep terrain with vegetation that has been stressed by the drought.”
Firefighters from across the state have been coming to help the Santa Cruz crew, but the county is competing with Santa Barbara, where another enormous blaze, the La Brea Fire, has engulfed 48,500 acres. Though brush fires are an annual occurrence in Central California, the cost to the state, estimated at between $750,000 and $1 million per day, is especially damaging because of the recession. Daniel Berlant of CalFire says: “We try our best to keep the cost to a minimum but you can’t put a dollar figure to protect life and property.” Read more at the Santa Cruz Sentinel, KCBS, Fox 35 and KION.
