CZU Lightning Complex Fires: Mandatory Evacuations For UC Santa Cruz, San Mateo County Communities

SAN MATEO COUNTY (CBS SF) -- Evacuations were ordered Thursday evening for the campus of the University of California, Santa Cruz and surrounding areas because of the growing fires from the CZU August Lightning Complex (map). which has burned at least 40,000 acres.

The communities of Scotts Valley, Paradise Park and the area east Zarante Canyon west of SR 17 and south of SR 35 near Felton were also issued evacuation orders Thursday evening. Earlier Thursday afternoon, UC Santa Cruz had enacted voluntary evacuations for staff and students living on the school's campus.

Cal Fire also upgraded evacuation warnings for residents in Pescadero, San Gregorio, La Honda to mandatory orders, urging residents to leave immediately.

• EVACUATIONS AND ROAD CLOSURES (updated 8:30 p.m.)

During a 6 p.m. update on the fires, one official said the fires are growing between 700 and 1,000 acres per hour and described the incident as "historic for this area."

Those who don't have a safe place to go were instructed to head to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk area as the official evacuation location. UC Santa Cruz students and staff were advised to have their university ID or some other form of identification to check in at Entrance B across from the Boardwalk parking lot. The Santa Cruz Boardwalk was otherwise closed to visitors through Sunday, according to the Boardwalk website.

Dozens of structures have been destroyed by the fast-moving fires and more than 48,000 residents evacuated as of Thursday evening.

Crews doused flames in Davenport Thursday afternoon as the CZU Lightning Complex fires continued to torch tens of thousands of acres.

In Ben Lomond, Jessi Jones drove his young child and wife to safety soon after he heard of the evacuation order.

"I've never seen it empty like this how it was last night when I was packing up," said Jones, who came back home to quickly save a few things.  "It's hard to tell how close the fires are from here."

Just down the street,  a team of volunteers from Santa Cruz Equine Evac made last-minute rescues for residents who couldn't save their animals. 

"We saw people with their house burning down. That's horrible," said Santa Cruz Equine Evac's Callie Gregg. "It's sad because you want to pack whatever you can. But you can only pack and take so many things sometimes."

"It's a little exhausting, but happy to be out here and have the equipment to be able to remove some of the animals and get to them before they get in harm's way," said Santa Cruz Equine Evac's Cindy Marchese

"How would you want to be treated? And if you had something happening like this, you would hope that your community would step up and take care of your animals too. Because that's not what I would need," said Gregg.

Thousands awoke in evacuation centers early Thursday, gripped with fear, anxiety and overwhelming concern about the fate of their homes and belongings as the fires continued to rage in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

Cal Fire said some 12,000 Boony Doon residents have been forced to evacuate, while 7,200 residents of Boulder Creek and another 4,000 residents of the mountain community of Felton were ordered to flee.

A travel advisory was issued by Santa Cruz County, with tourism officials requesting that travelers stay away from the area. Santa Cruz County Emergency Operations Center also issued a request that tourists, out-of-towners and visitors occupying area accommodations such as hotels, motels and vacation rentals leave the area immediately in order to free up shelter capacity.

"Local shelters are near capacity. The EOC is working with local agencies including cities, post-secondary institutions, school districts and others to increase capacity," the release read. "However, the scale of existing and anticipated evacuation orders is unprecedented and the need to safely house evacuees is critical."

Overnight, new evacuation orders were issued for all residents of Ben Lomond and around Lompico near the Loch Lomond Recreation Area. Residents living north of Santa Cruz were also told to prepare to evacuate. Over 22,000 residents have already been forced to flee the fire complex which ripped through 40,000 acres.

Firefighters were battling the blaze outside the coastal community of Davenport, which has been evacuated. The heavy layer of smoke draped over the mountains, fire officials said, was preventing the use of aircraft to battle the blaze.

The fire complex ripped through the Boony Doon area late Wednesday, destroying homes and structures. More than 8,600 homes have been threatened by the flames.

Among those forced to flee was Rita Mancera, who was helping neighbors at an evacuation center set up at Pescadero High School that was also forced to relocate at Wednesday by the advancing flames to Half Moon Bay High School.

"We know several homes have burned down," said Mancera.

Volunteers from the local non-profit Puente were leading the way at the evacuation site as officials say at least 70 families had come in for assistance.

"That major plume of smoke is where my house is," said a worried Mark Velligan. "I had the sprinklers going on on the roof of my house this morning when I went back in. But I can't go back in right now."

"It would be a crushing blow if we lost it all," he added. "It's hard."

Strong hot, dry winds in the area made the firefight difficult all day Wednesday. Overnight temperatures were much cooler early Thursday as an excessive heat wave finally moved on.

"With all the fire activity going on in the state we are very limited on resources. We are trying to work as hard as we can," said Cal Fire Captain Manny Garcia.

Evacuees were appreciated of the firefighters' efforts, but concern still overwhelmed them.

"We climbed up the mountain to look at the fire and it looked like a volcano," said Pescadero resident and evacuee Kristine Scully.

Kenny Choi contributed to this story.

EVACUATIONS AND ROAD CLOSURES