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.
“We’re in an offensive attack… we have crews out on the ground aggressively after all these fires,” Larkin said. “We’re making good progress on most of them.”