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DipityA prescribed burn was ignited this morning at Fort Ord and will involve 196 acres on the former Army post, according to Army spokesman Dan Carpenter.
WATSONVILLE - Eight families were displaced by a two-alarm fire that broke out at an apartment complex on the 600 block of Tuttle Avenue in Watsonville just after 6 p.m. Wednesday.
SUMMIT -- Since the Loma Fire was fully contained late Tuesday afternoon, fire crews have started returning home and a smaller staff of firefighters will remain in the Santa Cruz Mountains to monit...
RIO DEL MAR Big rig drags car down highway A 21-year-old Watsonville man made an unsafe lane change on Highway 1 northbound near Rio del Mar Boulevard and wedged his Dodge Intrepid under the traile...
CAPITOLA -- Bank officials are unsure when they will be able to reopen the 41st Avenue Chase Bank branch after a fire severely damaged the building's ceiling and attic space Thursday night.
BONNY DOON -- Bonny Doon volunteer firefighters thought they were getting a free meal when they joined other emergency responders at a thank-you luncheon put on by Lockheed Martin on Tuesday, but t...
CAPITOLA - A fire at the Chase Bank on Thursday evening forced employees and customers to evacuate, closed a block of 41st Avenue at Clares Street for hours and closed the branch for at least today.
Fire officials confirmed Thursday that a small wildland that burned about an acre in the hills above Boulder Creek sparked from a downed powerline.
Two fires, each an acre in size, in Boulder Creek and the North Coast kept firefighters busy during the hot Wednesday afternoon.
Fire investigators have yet to say what sparked last month's Lockheed Fire, which burned nearly 8,000 acres in the hills above Davenport, but Cal Fire officials have determined what caused a smalle...
Updated at 4:16 p.m. BOULDER CREEK - Firefighters have nearly contained a wildland blaze that sparked Wednesday afternoon about two miles up Kings Creek Road, officials reported.
SOLEDAD -- Thousands were left without power and hundreds more evacuated as a wildfire raced through grassy terrain northeast of Soledad on Thursday.
SWANTON -- Although the last of the evacuees were allowed to return home Wednesday night, smoke from the Lockheed Fire may linger in the Santa Cruz Mountains for months.
Map of the Lockheed Fire, started Aug. 12, 2009 on Empire Grade near the Lockheed-Martin facility
The owners of property scorched in the Lockheed Fire -- mostly a few large landholders who log or manage heavily forested parcels -- say the damage could have been much worse.
Video of fire damage to the Brookdale Inn & Spa from Aug. 18, 2009.
SANTA CRUZ -- Two men pleaded innocent Tuesday morning to charges of murder, kidnapping and robbery in connection with the killing of a Los Angeles man during a drug deal gone bad.
DAVENPORT -- Tucked away in a little cove off Highway 1, 11 horses and their owners are enjoying their own safe haven in the cattle shipping corral of Cal Poly's Swanton Pacific Ranch until they ar...
UPDATED 8:40 p.m.- This story will be updated throughout the day with the Sentinel's latest information BONNY DOON - As a light, westerly wind helped ground crews fortify containment lines around t...
Emergency contact information Evacuation Center: Pacific School in Davenport, at 50 Ocean St. Red Cross: Vintage Church, Mission and King streets, Santa Cruz.
SWANTON -- Between the raining ash and lack of sleep, Valerie Corral struggled to keep her eyes open Saturday afternoon, as she watched flames continue to burn on her Swanton Road property.
updated 2:10 p.m. This story will be updated throughout the day with new information. Gov Arnold Schwarzenegger toured the command post at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds in Watsonville this morn...
SWANTON -- The Lockheed Fire was not the 62nd birthday present or parting gift that David Streig, the retiring manager of the fish hatchery on Big Creek Road, was hoping for Wednesday.
DAVENPORT -- For 20 years, Joe Curry has dry-farmed organic tomatoes on a 136-acre ranch off a windy road in the hills above Davenport.
SANTA CRUZ -- County officials Friday morning promised a group of fire evacuees they would keep their homes safe, and keep them informed, as the Lockheed Fire continued to rage largely unabated.
Lockheed fire photos from Thursday, Aug. 13, by Sentinel photographer Shmuel Thaler
California Highway Patrol officers at 11 a.m. Thursday were directing traffic away from Bonny Doon. Roads at least partially closed Thursday include Empire Grade, Swanton Road, Bonny Doon Road, Pin...
SANTA CRUZ Wildfire burns brush in Pogonip Fire crews battled a slow-moving fire in Pogonip after someone reported seeing smoke coming from the area of the Spring Trail on Tuesday afternoon.
SANTA CRUZ - Fire crews are battling a slow-moving fire in Pogonip after someone reported seeing smoke coming from the area of the Spring Trail.
SANTA CRUZ -- A small fire that sparked in Pogonip on Tuesday afternoon was likely caused by discarded smoking material, fire officials reported.
Fire crews jumped on a 30-foot by 30-foot brush fire that broke out at Pogonip between Harvey West Business Park and UC Santa Cruz.
SCOTTS VALLEY -- Firefighters extinguished a blaze at Vine Hill and Jarvis roads Saturday that had the potential to grow to 50 acres and was threatening five homes, according to officials.
BEN LOMOND Motorcycle and SUV crash head-on Medical personnel, including firefighters and an air ambulance, were called to a head-on crash involving a motorcycle and a white sport utility vehicle ...
Video from the July 6, 2009 fire on San Andreas Road.
HOLLISTER -- A Central Fire crew wrecked a wildland engine while training in an off-road park Wednesday and it's unclear if the firefighting apparatus can be salvaged, officials reported Thursday.
An Aptos High student badly hurt when he came into contact with a 21-kilovolt power line Sunday night was sedated Tuesday while doctors assessed if his severely injured right arm could be saved.
Slide show from the Trabing fire. Photos from 2008 and 2009.
LARKIN VALLEY -- Bruce Begley commands the Saturday-afternoon scene like a general from his makeshift headquarters under a pair of tents -- making coffee, conversing with friends, answering phone c...
SANTA CRUZ -- A small blaze ignited in the woods above a quiet neighborhood Tuesday morning, stoking concerns that another dangerous fire season could be at hand.
SANTA CRUZ - A small blaze ignited in the woods above a quiet neighborhood Tuesday morning, stoking concerns that this summer's fire season could erupt at any time.
LIVE OAK -- The Sheriff's Office Bomb Team seized more than 1,000 pounds of commercial-grade explosives and potentially dangerous chemicals from a house at the corner of 25th Avenue and East Cliff ...
WaTSONVILLE Man gets five years for fake IDs A Watsonville man arrested last year for running a fake document factory will spend five years in prison, the District Attorney's Office reported.
WATSONVILLE - The city has reached tentative deals on concessions with all but one of its bargaining units.
BONNY DOON -- The woods buzzed with chain saws Wednesday as seasonal firefighters in bright-yellow gear rekindled their skills in Cal Fire's annual "returnees academy.
Fire crews are on the scene of a blaze inside the Physical Sciences building at UC Santa Cruz. The building has been evacuated, and crews are working to knock down the flames. It is unclear how the...
CORRALITOS - With overnight winds pushing the Summit Fire over the county line where it is threatening additional homes, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in Santa Clara Coun...
CORRALITOS -- The generally laid-back town of Corralitos became a de facto ground zero Thursday for the many people forced to flee the Summit Fire.
Fire crews are fighting a brush fire on West Cliff Drive at Santa Cruz Street. Witnesses called 911 around 3:30 p.m. saying someone set a tree on fire.
BOULDER CREEK - A controlled burn escaped its fire line late Tuesday morning, prompting a wildland fire response from Cal Fire crews.
Suspected shooter surrenders An alleged gang member suspected in a drive-by shooting near River Park on Tuesday afternoon turned himself into police Wednesday, according to police.
Santa Cruz County supervisors Tuesday called for an examination of how much they're paying to provide fire and medical emergency services to neighboring Santa Clara County.
BONNY DOON -- Bonny Doon residents are supporting state firefighters' plans to become a year-round fixture in the rural mountain community.
Santa Cruz County supervisors Tuesday called for an examination of how much they're paying to provide fire and medical emergency services to neighboring Santa Clara County.
SANTA CRUZ -- The man who died after he accidently drove his car off the side of the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf on Thursday was an 82-year-old Santa Cruz resident.
CAPITOLA - Fire crews are responding to a fire on northbound Highway 1 at the 41st Avenue on-ramp. Crews said a tree and brush are on fire and requested the on-ramp be closed.
SANTA CRUZ - Neighbors said "You could hear the bang from down the street" as they watched the fire that destroyed the garage at 204 Spring St.
The investigation into the cause of the fire that destroyed WorkSpace furniture showroom and warehouse on 41st Avenue has ended inconclusively, Central Fire Capt.
CAPITOLA -- Investigators combed through the tangled and blackened debris of what was once a 41st Avenue furniture warehouse Wednesday, searching for clues to what caused the Sunday night blaze.
SANTA CRUZ -- Firefighters doused a fire in a storage shed behind a home on Ross Street on Tuesday night, containing the damage to the 120-square-foot shed and sparing two homes, Division Chief Mar...
A fire destroyed the 20,000-square-foot WorkSpace office furniture showroom and inventory warehouse on 41st Avenue on Sunday night. See slide show
SEASCAPE -- For the first time in nearly 30 years, Hal and Mary Branges didn't have a Christmas tree.
Santa cruz Attackers sought in gang stabbing Police are searching for four men who punched and stabbed a 32-year-old Watsonville man downtown on Sunday night.
As autumn turns into winter, signs of rebirth in Larkin Valley are everywhere. Tough, verdant grasses are helping to heal scarred hillsides.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Two vastly different local communities -- one in the mountains, the other closer to the sea -- are trying to rebuild following a harrowing California fire season that burned 1.
Santa Cruz Perjury charges reduced for Knoerl A Cabrillo College student accused of perjury pleaded guilty Thursday to a lesser charge, was sentenced to the time already served and placed on probat...
WATSONVILLE -- More than two dozen people lost their home when a fire raged through a Union Street triplex early Tuesday morning.
Fire crews battled a fire in the 5300 block of Branciforte Drive for two hours Monday afternoon.
SANTA CRUZ - The to create an independent fire department in Bonny Doon was shot down for the second time in a matter of months.
A late-night fire burned a crematorium to the ground, but no human remains were inside at the time and a nearby mausoleum containing hundreds of urns and crypts sustained only superficial damage.
Firefighters battle a wildfire that broke out Thursday near Santa Barbara.
FELTON - Fire season is officially over, Cal Fire announced this week. Heavy rains last weekend soaked tinder-dry vegetation, dousing major concerns that wildland fires could spark.
As a new canopy bed was being loaded into her mother's truck, 5-year-old Caroline Ollenburger spun in a circle with joy before clinging on to her mother's leg.
SOQUEL - Four fire engines and two water tankers are responding to a substantial fire that has fully engulfed a secondary house on Nicasio Way, according to emergency dispatchers.
Winter rains will pour off soil scorched by the Summit Fire, increasing the potential for flooding in neighborhoods housing hundreds of senior citizens on the eastern edge of the city, a county off...
ZAYANTE Power surge likely sparked house fire A power surge on a PG&E line likely caused a fire that destroyed a house in Zayante on Wednesday evening, fire officials said.
Updated 6 p.m. A small wildfire started in the Soquel hills near Soquel Drive and Center Street just before 5 p.m. but was contained at 30 feet by 30 feet by crews from Cal Fire and Central Fire.
CORRALITOS - A small fire is burning in the Santa Cruz Mountains close to where the Summit Fire charred 4,270 acres in late May.
Firefighters were able to save a home that caught fire north of Boulder Creek about 10:45 a.m. Tuesday.
BOULDER CREEK -- Firefighters quickly extinguished a quarter-acre fire Tuesday afternoon, but the small blaze gave residents north of Boulder Creek quite a scare.
BOULDER CREEK - Firefighters quickly extinguished a quarter-acre fire Tuesday afternoon but the small blaze gave residents north of Boulder Creek quite a scare.
BOULDER CREEK - Firefighters were able to save a home that caught fire north of Boulder Creek about 10:45 a.m. today.
Fire map and links to photos and more information.
Two Santa Ana wind-driven fires on opposite ends of the San Fernando Valley raged out of control Monday night, destroying dozens of homes, forcing the evacuation of thousands of residents and threa...
SANTA CRUZ -- The Santa Cruz Fire Department and a local seniors program won scholarships to attend a training about preventing fire-related injuries and falling accidents for older adults.
SANTA CRUZ -- Two Santa Cruz city firefighters took the Heart Castle Challenge last month to raise money for an international organization for people with intellectual disabilities.
Thanks -- or no thanks -- to the biggest wildland fire season in Santa Cruz County history, fire danger is not too far from anyone's mind.
CORRALITOS - In May hundreds of residents fled flames that raced through the rugged canyons of the Summit Road area.
La Selva Beach CHP busts auto burglary suspects A California Highway Patrol officer arrested three Watsonville residents suspected of possessing stolen property near Manresa State Beach around 5 p.
A crew cutting down fire-damaged trees along Trabing Road toppled the top of a massive eucalyptus tree onto power lines Wednesday morning.
FELTON - Two small fires have been contained near Roaring Camp, according to Cal Fire dispatchers. The fires broke out about 2 p.
Watsonville Neighbor reports pot grow house Police confiscated pounds of marijuana from a home on the 400 block of Suncrest Way on Wednesday afternoon and are working with the county Narcotics Enfo...
LIVE OAK - Firefighters are responding to a fire at Paula's Restaurant at 3500 Portola Drive, near a mobile home park.
A fire broke out in a popular Westside breakfast spot Tuesday night, but firefighters were able to save the restaurant.
SANTA CRUZ - A fire broke out in a popular Westside breakfast spot Tuesday night, but firefighters were able to save the restaurant.
SANTA CRUZ -- Monday night's wildland fire in Pogonip was accidental, but police and park rangers who patrol the area said they plan to take new measures to protect the area after a spate of grass ...
SANTA CRUZ - Monday night's wildland fire in Pogonip was accidental, but police and park rangers who patrol the area said they plan to take new measures to protect the area after a spate of grass f...
Watsonville firefighters are tackling a slow-burning fire in dry grass near the intersection of Riverside Drive and Blackburn Street at 12:15 p.
A fire broke out in the Pogonip on Monday evening, the fifth time in less than two weeks that small wildland fires have burned in the 640-acre open space on the outskirts of town.
APTOS -- The fuel tank of a tractor-trailer burst into flames on Highway 1 near Spreckels Drive on Monday morning, shutting the highway and creating hours of gridlock throughout Mid-County.
SANTA CRUZ -- A fire seriously damaged a home at 105 Katherine Lane on Monday afternoon near Santa Cruz Gardens.
Santa Cruz Burglars use stun gun on woman Two burglars broke into a Westside home late Friday night and used a stun gun to subdue the 21-year-old woman living there, police reported.
SANTA CRUZ -- Three suspicious wildland fires broke out in short order in Santa Cruz on Tuesday night.
Bacon fat sparked a fire in the smokehouse at the Corralitos Market about 2:20 p.m. Tuesday. A handful of customers and a dozen employees were evacuated.
watsonville Hwy. 129 crash victims unidentified Authorities are still trying to the two young men from Watsonville who were killed in ca rash on Highway 129 about six miles east of Watsonville on M...
SANTA CRUZ - Three wildland fires broke out in just over an hour in Santa Cruz Tuesday night. Fire officials did not immediately know if the fires were intentionally set.
CORRALITOS - A bacon-filled smokehouse at the Corralitos Market caught fire Tuesday afternoon and the market is temporarily closed while fire crews respond.
BOULDER CREEK - Fire crews responded to a house fire just off Highway 9 north of Boulder Creek around 11:15 a.
After suffering severe burns in June's Trabing Fire, Julip the cat, one the of pets that suffered the worst injuries in the blaze, has taken a turn for the better.
David De La Rosa and his Arabian horses were forced to evacuate his Empire Grade ranch during the Martin Fire in June.
A small wildland fire burned in a remote area of the Pogonip on Thursday afternoon, fire officials reported.
A small wildland fire that burned in the Pogonip on Thursday was sparked by an unattended cooking fire in an illegal homeless camp.
Updated, 10:20 p.m. BEN LOMOND - A fire engulfed two houses and burned into the surrounding wildland on Hermosa Avenue, across the San Lorenzo River from Highway 9, Friday afternoon.
Two Watsonville men were badly hurt in an apparently random gang stabbing Friday afternoon in front of a Soquel Drive store, and sheriff's deputies are still looking for the assailants.
The locals can't smell it much anymore, but visitors to Big Sur surely can. Approaching Big Sur from the north, along one of the most famously picturesque stretches of roadway in the world, you can...
BONNY DOON -- A verdict on Bonny Doon's three-year-long quest to branch off from County Fire and establish firefighting independence by forming its own fire district is expected in less than a month.
Santa Cruz Car burglary suspect arrested Police arrested a 35-year-old transient early Wednesday after a man reported seeing two people opening the doors of cars parked along the street in Beach Fl...
Santa Cruz Car burglary suspect arrested Police arrested a 35-year-old transient early Wednesday after a man reported seeing two people opening the doors of cars parked along the street in Beach Fl...
Boulder Creek Driver causes three crashes A man driving a black Subaru allegedly caused three collisions and seriously injured himself Tuesday afternoon, the California Highway Patrol reported.
Firefighters jumped on what appeared to be an electrical fire at a home on Hecker Pass Road and saved the seven-bedroom structure Friday.
PAJARO VALLEY - Firefighters are responding to a two-alarm house fire on Hecker Pass Road this afternoon.
LARKIN VALLEY -- Bruce Begley commands the Saturday-afternoon scene like a general from his makeshift headquarters under a pair of tents -- making coffee, conversing with friends, answering phone c...
LARKIN VALLEY - One month into the charred aftermath of the Trabing Fire, affected residents are putting their lives and their neighborhoods back on track.
For weeks, fire trucks from across the state rolled into Santa Cruz County to battle three wildland fires that burned more than 5,000 acres and destroyed dozens of homes.
Fire crews contained the Castle Fire on Wednesday, but Cal Fire officials said firefighters will remain in Castle Rock State Park for several days to douse smoldering areas.
SUMMIT - Firefighters on Tuesday fought to reach a fire smoldering in a remote area of Castle Rock State Park. Updated at 8:30 p.m.
SUMMIT - Firefighters on Tuesday fought to reach a fire smoldering in a remote area of Castle Rock State Park. Updated at 8:30 p.m.
SUMMIT -- Firefighters on Tuesday fought to reach a fire smoldering in a remote area of Castle Rock State Park.
SUMMIT - The Castle Fire continues to burn near the Summit, but Cal Fire officials say they expect it will be contained today. Updated 4:25 p.m., Wednesday
SANTA CRUZ - A small wildland fire, possibly sparked by an illegal campfire, burned about an acre in the Pogonip early today.
Aided by water tankers, Cal Fire crews on Monday night were battling a 3-to 5-acre grass fire at Castle Rock State Park.
When Bonny Doon's volunteer firefighters fought day and night to put out the Martin Fire, they didn't expect to get paid.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger made a brief stop today at Moffett Field and got a firsthand look at the latest technology NASA is using to help the state's fire crews battle the hundreds of blazes ragi...
FELTON -- When the Martin Fire broke out in mid-June, Boulder Creek resident Steve Ziganti was flooded with calls from friends concerned his home was in danger.
SANTA CRUZ -- When the Trabing Fire broke out just north of Watsonville on a Friday afternoon last month, hundreds of people who lived in the area rushed home to check on property, retrieve belongi...
LARKIN VALLEY - Dense stands of eucalyptus trees coupled with the day's heat and low humidity are to blame for the rapid spread of the devastating Trabing Fire north of Watsonville last month.
OROVILLE -- For Clay and Nancy Henphill, running from raging wildfires has become a familiar routine.
A few tentative flames lick some roadside brush in the Santa Cruz Mountains. It's 2 p.m. on a hot, dry summer day and the humidity is low.
Just because a tree is scorched and leafless, doesn't necessarily mean it's dead. Given time, a good number of the trees burned in the recent wildfires will recover.
In Bonny Doon, residents went to great lengths to express thanks to firefighters, one offered a YouTube video tribute.
SANTA CRUZ -- Law enforcement officials attributed the absence of any major Independence Day problems to their increased presence and smaller crowds than usual, but firefighters say the county was ...
For more than 60 years, the Boulder Creek Fire Department has served up fluffy flapjacks, scrambled eggs and sausage links for their Fourth of July fundraiser.
Photos and video produced by the Santa Cruz Sentinel from coverage of the fires in May and June, 2008
APTOS -- Holding a large homemade firework, Aptos/La Selva Fire Battalion Chief Jim Dias said Tuesday that the cardboard tube with a 4-inch green fuse not only looked like dynamite, it had the same...
Cal Fire officials say a person started the Martin Fire that charred 520 acres and destroyed three homes in Bonny Doon last month.
COUNTY - Three major fires in the past month have left fire resources stretched thin and some firefighters without a day off in the past 30. State fire officials say a boost in early season manpow...
The governor has issued an emergency declaration for Santa Cruz County as the Summit Fire has grown to more more than 3,000 acres with no containment.
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