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Fire controlled; three homes lost
 John Steed was one of several left to sift through the rubble of a lost home after the largest fire in the area’s history. Lucjan Szewczyk/Press-Banner
The signs marked a major sigh of relief for the estimated 1,400 Bonny Doon residents who were asked to evacuate their homes shortly after the fire started last week.
The fire was reported at 2:54 p.m. Wednesday, June 11, and by the time it was 100 percent contained Tuesday, June 17, it had devoured 520 acres on both sides of Martin Road, including three homes, eight outbuildings and a large portion of the Bonny Doon Ecological Reserve.
At its height, nearly 900 fire personnel from all corners of California fought the blaze.
The fire’s cause is still unknown, though the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection has released a bulletin regarding a person of interest who might have information about the fire. The man is thought to be between 18 and 22 years old, thin with sandy-colored hair, standing between 5-foot-8 and 5-foot-11. The anonymous Cal Fire Arson Hotline is 800-468-4408.
Officials say the fire started at the Moon Rocks area above Martin Road in the ecological reserve, an off-limits part of the reserve notorious for illicit college parties, said historian Bob Piwarzyk, a local resident known as “Bonny Doon Bob.”
People sometimes spend the night there and build camp fires, which is illegal but not easily enforced, because there is no money available from the Department of Fish and Game, which monitors the reserve.
‘The Battle of Bonny Doon’
Bonny Doon Fire and Rescue volunteer Ted Fairbanks was one of the early responders.
“It was the biggest fire I’ve ever seen,” said Fairbanks, a longtime volunteer.
When the fire threatened the Martin Road Fire Station, the older of Bonny Doon’s two stations and the site of the annual “Un-Pancake” breakfast, Fairbanks and others put out the fire on the roof and in the gutters.
But soon, the valve on a propane tank behind the station broke.
“It vented, and a 15-foot jet of flame shot out of it for about half an hour,” Fairbanks said.
Cal Fire took the lead fighting the blaze, and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger mobilized DC-10 and DC-7 fire-retardant dropping aircrafts, bulldozers and personnel to fires blazing in Northern and Southern California.
As of Tuesday, June 17, Cal Fire estimated the cost of fighting the flames at $5.4 million.
The morning of Thursday, June 12, Fairbanks found himself inside the firehouse making coffee for the weary crews.
 Though the Martin Fire in Bonny Doon was mostly contained by Saturday, June 14, its smoke turned the sky over Scotts Valley an eerie hue. Lucjan Szewczyk/Press-Banner
The firefighters spent that Wednesday night and all day Thursday battling the blaze as it consumed more acreage and threatened homes along Martin Road. There were light winds when the fire started, but they died out, helping with containment efforts.
By the evening of Friday, June 13, it appeared the fire was nearly controlled, and favorable wind conditions allowed even further containment.
Residents helped the cause, posting signs on their driveways if there was a pool or pond full of water available for firefighters to draw from.
Despite the best efforts of firefighters, three houses were consumed by fire. The Jessen family lost two units on its heir Martin Road property, but saved the main house.
The Cleary family lost its residence on Martin Road, and the Powell family lost its master bedroom, but the rest of the house remained somewhat intact.
Cal Fire is conducting an analysis of the fire that will soon be available.
“It think this fire went as best as it could have possibly gone,” Fairbanks said. “‘The Battle for Bonny Doon’ — that’s what I’m calling it.”
A swift evacuation
An estimated 1,400 Bonny Doon residents received a recorded telephone call to evacuate their homes soon after the fire started. Many left, but some stayed behind to fight the fire or wait it out. Later on, police and sheriff’s deputies went door to door to enforce the order.
Some, like longtime Bonny Doon resident Helen Robb, chose to stay.
“I slept in my clothes every night,” she said Sunday, June 15. “It’s been four days.”
However, finding accurate information about the fire was difficult for electricity-deprived residents, as cell-phone service is spotty at best in the mountainous region.
The Santa Cruz County chapter of the American Red Cross set up an evacuation center at San Lorenzo Valley Middle School, where 30 people checked in for meals Wednesday night.
Ten slept in cots set up in the gymnasium, and others slept in cars with their animals.
 At the temporary animal evacuees shelter on Graham Hill Road, Bonny Doon resident Bonnie Millard stayed with her horses and dogs while helping care for other animals as well. At the time, she didn’t know if her house had survived. Lucjan Szewczyk/Press-Banner
The shelter was moved to Scotts Valley Middle School the next day.
Roberts noted that this is the second major fire the Red Cross has responded to in a month and that it needs financial contributions to maintain the services it offers to disaster victims.
There was a large-scale animal evacuation as well. On the first day, 40 horses were evacuated to the show grounds on Graham Hill Road, where Santa Cruz Animal Services set up a temporary shelter.
“My horses were the first ones off the hill,” said Mary Sullivan-White, a Vick Drive resident.
She evacuated her two horses and her miniature donkey, Winston, as soon as the smoke started floating toward her house.
“It was a very scary feeling, because the smoke was coming,” Sullivan-White said.
The fire could have been much worse, but quick response from Cal Fire and many other agencies kept the fire from spreading at an extreme rate.
“I feel like in the last five days the state has paid back every cent I’ve paid out to the state of California,” said Bob Piwarzyk, an Ice Cream Grade resident who had fire vehicles parked in front of his house for the fire’s duration.
 'Thank you' signs popped up along Martin Road, Ice Cream Grade, Pine Flat and more during and after the fire. Lucjan Szewczyk/Press Banner
An ecological disaster
Much of the Bonny Doon Ecological Reserve burned in the fire.
The 550-acre reserve is a rare Sandhills habitat home to five endemic species: the Bonny Doon manzanita, the Ben Lomond spineflower, the Ben Lomond wallflower, the Santa Cruz manzanita and the Santa Cruz cyprus.
Val Haley, the docent coordinator for the reserve, estimated that about two-thirds of the reserve might have burned.
“It’s going to provide a real opportunity for research to study this habitat and these rare plants,” Haley said.
She said the reserve will likely be closed for six months to a year to assess the damage and see how the plants grow back.
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