Crews face more challenges in the Bear Fire fight

Firefighters in the Santa Cruz Mountains continue to work towards their goal of fully containing the Bear Fire by Tuesday.

The 391 acre fire is close to 80 percent contained.

On Sunday, crews told KION they won’t leave until the job is done.

“We are still working hard at really reinforcing our containment line so we can get this thing 100 percent contained. We need to make sure everything is very secure, and we also really want to open up evacuation orders and get people back home,” said Cal Fire Forest Manager Angela Bernheisel.

The weather has played a big role in helping crews fight the fire, but firefighters say they can’t get ahead of themselves since wind is expected to pick up Sunday and into Monday.

“The moisture, you know we got a little bit of green cooler temperatures that really helped us to get a handle on this fire the last couple of days, but we can’t be complacent because we are expecting heat and wind.”

Aside from the weather, crews are facing other challenges.

“There’s a lot of steep terrain, a lot of trees that keep falling, a lot of rock roll out slippery conditions,” said Manuel Garcia, Cal Fire apparatus engineer.

“We have to be really careful about keeping our heads up and seeing what’s all around us and making sure we don’t have any more injuries and that we can mitigate those hazards before people come home,” said Bernheisel.

Crews have been working 24 hours a day battling the fire with little to no rest. A lot of crews will head to the Ben Lomond base camp for some sleep and food.

Crews have also come from out of state including Montana, Washington and Oregon to help.

More than 350 people are working to contain the fire. Nine people have been hurt, but most with minor injuries. According to Cal Fire, one firefighter is still in the hospital, but he is expected to make a full recovery.