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San Mateo County’s health officer declared a local health emergency Wednesday in areas impacted by the CZU Lightning Complex fires, “after determining that hazardous waste that may be on site is an immediate threat to public health,” the County said.

Debris and ash from structure fires “can contain hazardous substances such as building materials or chemicals from household items,” according to County Health Officer Dr. Scott Morrow.

The declaration, set to be ratified at the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors meeting on Sept. 15, expands an Aug. 28 emergency regulation to allow temporary access to private property for damage estimates.

“The new declaration further clarifies that County staff and contractors can enter private property as necessary to remediate hazardous waste or waste that could become hazardous,” the County states.

The action could also free up additional funding to help local communities recover from the CZU Lightning Complex fires, which began Aug. 16 and have covered 86,609 acres across both San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties. The fire is currently 83 percent contained and has destroyed at least 1,490 structures, including 59 in San Mateo County.

“The emergency declaration will help ensure the safety of our residents as they return home, as well as our environment, by facilitating the removal of toxic metals and hazardous materials from the burned areas,” said Environmental Health Services Director Heather Forshey.

For more information on the fire recovery, visit here.

Photo credit: San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office

An off-duty Redwood City police detective helped pull two juvenile victims involved in a fiery crash to safety in Truckee Thursday night, authorities said.

At about 11:22 p.m., Detective Matt Cydzik came across a solo-vehicle crash on Interstate Highway 80 near Donner Pass Road where the vehicle was becoming engulfed in flames, according to Redwood City police and the CHP.

Cydzik sprang into action and pulled two juveniles from the vehicle with assistance from a CHP officer.

“Both juveniles were transported to the hospital via two air ambulances and we are hopeful of their recovery,” the CHP said. No drugs are suspected in the crash, and the CHP believes speeding was a factor.

“When told earlier today that he was a hero, [Det. Cydzik] responded by saying ‘just doing the same thing we would all do!,'” according to the Redwood City Police Department. “He also mentioned that other bystanders were extremely helpful and he personally thanked them for their assistance.”

The CZU August Lightning Complex wildfires in southern San Mateo County and northern Santa Cruz County was at 81,333 acres and 21 percent containment as of Wednesday morning, Cal Fire officials said.

Favorable weather has allowed firefighters to make progress on the blazes, caused by a flurry of statewide lightning strikes last week, to the point that some areas are being prepped to be repopulated, meaning crews are going in to clear roadways, restore utilities and assess damages.

Still, over 23,000 structures remain under threat by the ongoing fires, and 646 are confirmed destroyed, 11 of them in San Mateo County and the rest in Santa Cruz County, officials said. The number of firefighters battling the blaze continued to grow and is now at 1,982, more than double the number of personnel from a week ago, which significantly improves their ability to increase containment efforts.

Fire officials are confident the blazes will not continue their march into regions they were previously concerned about, including Santa Clara County, UC Santa Cruz and Felton, due in part to construction of protective fire control lines.

“Over the course of next 48 hours, we are going to be looking at repopulating different areas, in and around the fires,” Cal Fire incident commander Billy See said. “It needs to be a coordinated and methodical process. We need to ensure that we have electricity, we need to ensure the roadways are safe to travel, we need to make sure that we have corridors for our firefighters to travel in and out of the fire, we need to make sure we have water in place. That’s a coordinated effort that takes a lot of different agencies to ensure this occurs.”

The community of Davenport, for example, is one area where PG&E is already present trying to reestablish electricity in the community.

“The fire perimeter, each day, we are gaining confidence as we increase resources on this incident,” See said. “Today, we’re going to have over 1,000 firefighters out on that line working diligently to gain perimeter control. Each day we increase our containment effort on this incident, and we will continue to do that until we have it 100 percent contained and we’ve been able to lift the majority of evacuation orders and warnings in this area.”

The CZU August Lightning Complex fires were among hundreds of wildfires that began last week throughout the state following 11,000 lightning strikes over a 72-hour period. The lightning strikes were caused by a tropical storm in the Pacific. Firefighting resources have been stretched thin as a result of the large number of wildfires.

Visit the regional evacuations portal for more information. Visit Cal Fire’s incident map for more information on the status of wildfires throughout the state.

Headline image of Cal Fire Operations Section Chief Mark Brunton, YouTube

The CZU August Lightning Complex wildfires in southern San Mateo County and northern Santa Cruz County had grown to 80,137 acres and was 19 percent contained as of Wednesday morning, Cal Fire officials said.

Over 24,000 structures remain under threat, and 538 are confirmed destroyed, 11 of them in San Mateo County and the rest in Santa Cruz County, officials said. Just under 1,700 firefighters are battling the blazes.

Despite the grim statistics, Cal Fire officials are optimistic, as favorable weather in the past few days have allowed them to build fire control lines to prevent its spread. The better weather also allowed helicopters to drop over 1.6 million gallons of water on the fires, including 256,000 gallons on Tuesday. Fire officials remain confident the blazes will not continue their march into regions they were previously concerned about, including Santa Clara County, UC Santa Cruz and Felton.

The forecast of continued favorable weather will enable firefighters to continue the work to strengthen fire lines, officials said. Plans are being made to send crews to fire-ravaged zones to clear roadways, enabling utility vehicles and damage inspectors to begin the recovery process.

San Mateo County Det. Rosmerry Blankswade expressed gratitude to the local community for donations to first responders and evacuees. Diapers, formula and other baby supplies came into the San Mateo County Event Center, set up as an evacuation center, she said. Restaurants, including Alice’s Restaurant on Skyline and Highway 84, have donated food to first responders.

“We’re grateful for the support from the community,” Blankswade said, adding, “It’s just incredibly motivating. Our first responders and support staff see these messages and comments, we see signs as well out in the community, and we can’t tell you how much it means to us right now.”

The CZU August Lightning Complex fires were among hundreds of wildfires that began last week throughout the state following 11,000 lightning strikes over a 72-hour period. The lightning strikes were caused by a tropical storm in the Pacific. Firefighting resources have been stretched thin as a result of the large number of wildfires.

Visit the regional evacuations portal for more information. Visit Cal Fire’s incident map for more information on the status of wildfires throughout the state.

Headline image of Cal Fire Operations Section Chief Mark Brunton holding Thank You cards from community members credited to Cal Fire CZU