Rangers Support CalFire at CZU Lightning Complex Fire
On the morning of August 16, 2020 a lightning storm passed through the Santa Cruz mountains with lightning strikes that started the fires that would become known as the CZU Lightning Complex Fire after burning 86,509 acres over the span of 38 days. Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District lands were directly threatened by these fires and between 3 a.m. - 4 a.m., District Rangers began receiving calls from Emergency Dispatch.
Rangers began by evacuating the Montebello Open Space Preserve campground, ensuring the safety of preserve visitors. Then, Rangers turned their attention to locating and extinguishing fires on District lands. Four fires were located in the preserves and quick action by District Rangers and Cal Fire prevented them from becoming unmanageable. Over the next several days, District Rangers continued to return and monitor the fire sites to ensure no smoldering embers rekindled.
While multiple remote fires grew and combined, the mandatory evacuation areas were expanded. This included much of the Skyline area, directly impacting Midpen preserves. Resident Rangers, who live on district property, not only assisted in securing evacuation routes and closing preserves while on-duty, but they also had to evacuate themselves and their families from their homes when off-duty.
Public safety was paramount, and the Rangers continued to patrol the district preserves within the evacuation area, even while smoke from the fires reached hazardous levels. District Rangers also supported Cal Fire by forming a task force with Midpeninsula Regional Open Space trucks to defend a five mile span of road as the last defense to stop the fire’s spread. While working extended hours, going above and beyond the regular patrol shifts, District Rangers rotated through the CZU Fire assignment and spent almost 1,000 hours over the next 14 days dedicated to fire control. Their efforts stopped the fire’s progression at Old Haul Road, preventing it from going closer to Skyline Ridge. The Rangers’ coverage of daily 12-hour shifts allowed Cal Fire operations to extend their resources and gave firefighting units rest, recuperation, and the ability to support other threats.
Though the CZU Lightning Complex Fire continued to burn for months, the two weeks of support that District Rangers offered allowed it to stop spreading and Cal Fire was able to manage the fire until it was fully extinguished.
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If you support having skilled and trained Rangers ready to respond to public safety emergencies such as this that occur within and surrounding Open Space Lands please contact your elected board members and ask them to return to the negotiations table with the Rangers to offer a benefits package that is consistent with their public safety role.