CORRALITOS, Calif. — Crews have “quickly corralled” a prescribed burn that jumped control lines in southeastern Santa Cruz County and prompted evacuations Friday night, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Given the progress, all 270 people who were ordered to evacuate could return to their homes by Saturday night, a Cal Fire official said in an interview.
“They’ve got hoses around the whole thing today and we’re reinforcing the line,” said spokeswoman Angela Bernheisel. “Everything’s looking good.”
The Estrada Fire was first reported at about 2:40 p.m. Pacific time Friday at Hazel Dell and Hidden Canyon roads in Corralitos.
By Saturday morning, it had burned between120 and 150 acres, with 10% containment, according to one Cal Fire estimate, but Bernheisel said crews would have a more accurate projection of the fire’s true acreage later in the day.
In a news release Thursday, Cal Fire said the fire was the result of a prescribed burn at Estrada Ranch, conducted as part of the agency’s vegetation treatment program and “intended to reduce fuel accumulations and restore and enhance grassland.” It was scheduled to take place from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The weather on Friday met Cal Fire’s predefined conditions for a prescribed burn, Bernheisel said, describing how drier surroundings allow prescription burns to reduce fuel levels more effectively.
However, as crews reached the last stage of the burn, some of the ambers jumped the control line, forming a “long, narrow fire that kind of took off,” Bernheisel said.
“We pretty quickly corralled it and stopped the fire last night,” she said, adding that the burn area did not appear to have grown by Saturday morning.
There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.
Cal Fire, meanwhile, has canceled a second prescribed burn at TomKat Ranch in Pescadero. Slated for Sunday, the 10-acre burn was intended to reduce brush on a ridge north of the town.
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