UPDATE: Firefighters got a toehold overnight on the massive fire raging near Bonny Doon, reporting 5 percent containment on a fire that’s now consumed 4,100 acres.
No homes have been destroyed in the blaze, just two outbuildings, but hundreds of homes are threatened and more than 2,000 area residents have been forced to leave.
A major wildfire that started north of Bonny Doon off Swanton Road in Davenport on Wednesday evening continued to spread, causing a wide-scale evacuation in Bonny Doon by late afternoon Thursday, Aug. 13.
As of Press-Banner press time, the Lockheed Fire had consumed about 2,800 acres of heavily wooded area north of Davenport between Swanton Road and the Lockheed Martin campus at the end of Empire Grade Road.
Cal Fire is battling the blaze with six air tankers and one air attack.
Forty strike teams were staging for structure protection at 4:15 p.m. Thursday, and 40 other strike teams were battling the fire as it raged into the evening.
Firefighters from as far south as San Diego and Riverside counties were on scene by Thursday afternoon to fight the fire. Firefighters even began arriving from Lake Tahoe on Thursday.
Crews of volunteer firefighters from the Bonny Doon Fire Protection District also were put to work.
About 250 homes and 25 businesses in Davenport were evacuated by Thursday morning. By 11:30 a.m., a major evacuation of the Pine Flat,
Empire Grade and Ice Cream Grade area in Bonny Doon began. Large animals were taken to the Watsonville Fairgrounds and smaller animals to a temporary shelter on the corner of Rodriguez Street and Seventh Avenue in Santa Cruz.
Fire crews staged in Davenport and at the Lockheed campus. Another staging area was set up at Bonny Doon Airport.
The American Red Cross set up an evacuation center at Vintage Faith Church at 350 Mission St. One person spent the night Wednesday, but Red Cross volunteers were on hand to handle more evacuees.
There were no confirmed structures burned as of Thursday as light winds swept the mountains and billowing smoke could be seen from much of the north end of the county.
