Burn ban still in effect for Santa Cruz County
UPDATE 11/22/18 4:30 p.m. Even with the much needed rain, Cal fire says the fire danger is still present.
A burn ban is still in effect for Santa Cruz County and will likely be lifted early next week.
Cal Fire battalion Chief Aldo Gonzalez says, “I know it’s wet and there’s puddles in the road, but things can dry out in a matter of 10, 15 days and we’re right back off to the races. It’s an all too common story, we get a couple inches of rain and people right away they start burning and stuff and having campfires and this storm needs to be preceded by several other storms in order for us to call fire season off. So we’re nowhere close to doing that.”
Chief Gonzalez adds, “two weeks ago it was bone dry out here, we are having fires every day. A lot of people up in the forest burning in having illegal campfires, illegal campsites, those fires are getting out and they are threatening the infrastructure of what Santa Cruz County is about, beautiful trees, the mountains, all of that wonderful stuff they could all be gone in a moments notice just like paradise. so just give us a minute be patient and we’ll see if we can hopefully get some more precip and call it a fire season.”
Due to those illegal camp fires the city of Santa Cruz recently closed several parks.
Some people going to visit those parks today say while it’s inconvenient they understand, “at the end of the day, though it’s not my favorite state of affairs, I appreciate the fact that we have good local government,” says Alex Lamb.
Chalie Parr agrees, “it seemed a little bit overkill, but I get it, especially with people suspiciously they believe we’re setting fires here, so I get why they were evacuating these areas.”
For when that burn ban is lifted, Chief Gonzalez says some things to think about, “people have innocently started a campfire and it gets away from them, your kids playing around the campfire, starting fires using gasoline, it flashes on you. Not having a good fire ring, not having clearances comment not putting the fire out completely when you’re done with it.”
There is no timeline yet for when the parks will reopen.
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Even with the much needed rain, Cal fire says the fire danger is still present.
A burn ban is still in effect for Santa Cruz County and will likely be lifted early next week.
Battalion Chief for Cal Fire says it will take several storms for fire officials to feel comfortable saying fire season is over.
KION’s Ashley Keehn will have more at 5 p.m. and 6 p.m.
