Major Parks closing in Santa Cruz, as fire danger increased

The City of Santa Cruz took the extraordinary step Thursday of shutting down access to its public parks.

The closure affects Arana Gulch, Moore Creek, Delaveaga, Arroyo Seco and Pogonip, which just this week saw a two-acre fire break out.

The Fire Chief says the closures are necessary with the extreme fire conditions, as well as the significant number of fires that have sparked in those areas.

In a quiet neighborhood near Pogonip Park, the threat of fire is almost a daily routine.

“I came out of my house and I was looking back here and I saw smoke rising,” said James Melio, who lives near the park. “I thought it was from a previous fire that they were still putting out at 3am yesterday morning.”

It turned out to be a new fire. A quick call to 911 took care of the flames before they grew too big, but not without rattling some nerves first.

“I got really scared, I didn’t really know what was going on, I didn’t know how fast it was going to spread,” said Melio.

Fire officials told Melio that a cooking fire from an encampment caused the burn.

“Quite a few of the fires that have been started were started by illegal campfires, so during this high fire weather time, it’s a dangerous activity,” said Paul Horvat, the emergency services manager at the Santa Cruz Fire Department.

Santa Cruz is closing five of the parks to the public 24/7, citing dry conditions and poor behavior.

Horvat said they will be posting signs at park entrances to let people know it is closed. Those found violating the rule will be issued a citation.

Law-abiding park goers are not happy.

“How do I feel? I’m angry, but trying to be sympathetic, empathetic as much as possible, but you know,” said Steve Elpers, who bikes through Pogonip Park routinely.

Horvat said they do not have an exact time frame for when the parks will be reopened.

“I know that we’re looking at some rain next week starting on Wednesday, so we hopefully get a little bit of rain so that we can reopen the parks,” said Horvat.

“This is too close for home. I mean everyone’s got the right to live and all that stuff,” said Melio. “This is just, it’s getting really scary, pretty chaotic. Don’t need what’s happening up north happening down here. It’s very scary times right now.”

Santa Cruz County has dealt with at least 26 fires since last week alone, some of which started because of illegal campfires. Investigators arrested five people in connection with these fires already.

Residents are asked to call 911 if they see any illegal fires or other activity.