 Good morning. This is the 6am press conference here on the CZU lightning complex. My name is Jonathan Cox. I'm deputy chief for Cal Fire San Mateo Santa Cruz unit. Just a quick reminder as always if you can mute your telephones and take any conversations outside the press conference area would be appreciated. Additionally, please keep your masks on when not speaking. Just a quick update this morning. As of six o'clock this morning, this incident is now 78,869 acres. The good news is we can continue to make progress on containment. We're up to 1717% containment this morning. With that, we still have 25,000 structures that are threatened by this incident, and we can confirm that 330 structures have been destroyed by the fire of that 330 structures. 11 of them are in San Mateo County and 319 are in Santa Cruz County. Additionally, we have 1611 personnel assigned to the incident. With that, I'll pass it over to IMT three operation section chief Mark Brenton for an operations update. Good morning. So the past couple days, we've seen a significant progress in our firefight on this incident. The weather is really cooperative with us. We're steadily getting a trickle of resources in as soon as we're getting those resources, we're putting them into our plan to achieve our strategy and tactics for this incident. The incident starting up at the top in the north zone is looking really good. Fire is basically just where it exists is creeping down towards our control lines that we have established, or we are in the process of establishing. So we have no major fire front, just a slow creep of the fire. Again, if we had a bunch of resources, we'd have that surrounded and we'd be able to extinguish better. But this actually is part of our alternative strategy, and it's working in our favor. It's doing exactly what we want. And although people may see some flames or some fire or she smoke more, more so than anything. Just be right. Know that really it's part of our overall strategy. It poses no threat with our wind patterns or weather patterns. It's doing exactly what we want to do. And it is again, an alternative strategy where we're utilizing. So in the division golf and Kilo area, it's doing just that. We have an active patrol, a lot of resources in there. It's a very critical piece of line because even with our new wind pattern coming from the south, giving it a little bit of a push, it's a kind of an it's a no factor because what that was and why we wanted to button that up is that is a direct would have been a direct threat to Santa Clara County and the line there. We're very confident that that's holding and we're going to be really looking good there. Around the top. Continue line construction of butano into Loma Maher. Again, it's just a creeping fire, very steep rugged terrain, very difficult for us to put a good control line in there. But because of that, we're using that alternative method and monitoring that have resources there monitoring that. And that's looking really good. Moving down the coast, we're continuing to put in more line where we're actively engaged in putting very good direct control line in, which is going to protect the community of Pescadero and put that in a really good spot for protection down the coast down ports looking really good. Fire again, a lot of itself mitigated in some of the lighter fuels along the coast due to this weather on the south or south lines that we put in been speaking of regarding the contingency lines are holding they're holding very well. A lot of the fire has actually blackened out and is extinguished. So we're continuing to work on that area. So Santa Cruz and the UC campus looking very well protected. No threat at this point in time. And with our expected weather, we're not very concerned with any further push there. So just a matter of getting in, getting that mopped up and finally putting that putting that away. Moving up the highway nine corridor, Felton's looking really good. Fire still is is hung up on the the ridge top. And as soon as we can get some more resources in, we'll be doing that lower priority. Not that the community is important, but just the fire. It's just really not doing much. And so we're we're not as concerned with any push on that area. Moving up the highway nine quarter, Ben Lohman, Brookdale is looking really good. That little community is fine. The fires hung up really high and our challenges down below Ben Lohman in the state park. Again, it's just rugged terrain, heavy fuels and we're continuing to work in there. That's we're having the challenge because of the steepness. The roll out of the material as it rolls out below burns back up into itself. It's just just something that we're working on a real challenge, not easy country to work in. As we move into Boulder Creek, that's looking really good. We have a lot of resources in there, actively constructing line. We've been working our helicopters diligently through there yesterday. Because of the air was clear, we ran. We have six water dropping helicopters, 200,000 gallons we dropped yesterday and we timed out the aircraft. That means we flew the aircraft to the maximum that we could fly them as far as the hours we could put on in a day per regulations. We did that and I anticipate today we are going to meet that same criteria and maybe even exceed the amount of water dropped. That's a challenge I gave to my air folks and they're ready to meet that challenge to help our ground resources. Bonnie Dune, again, continuing working there. A lot of good hard work being done. Lines put in. Again, slow, tedious process, but we're working hard on that. Then we're starting to work doing some things to work deeper into the incident, work our way into it and pass the obstacles to continue on our challenge to extinguish this fire. Thank you. Speaking next from the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office, Chief Deputy Chris Clark. Good morning. So some positive news on the fire and from our standpoint, a little positive news from us and really the report I got back this morning was that not a lot of people were running around and it was fairly quiet night, which is a good thing. You know, that's people I think heating that, you know, heating that warning, heating that order to stay out of the evacuated area to let people work. And so I just continue to encourage that. Last night, as I mentioned, yesterday's press conference, we had last night a total of 79 personnel working the area. The entire San Lorenzo Valley, 39 of our folks and 46 mutual aid. Today, we'll have about that same number, 76 with 23 Sheriff's Office personnel, 18 from in county. And again, like you know, I've said this before, I can't say thank you. We can't say thank you enough to our in county are the other agencies, Santa Cruz PD, Watsonville, Capitola, Scots Valley for helping us. So 18 from those agencies and then 35 for agencies from over the hill. I think I neglected to mention this yesterday. But in terms of missing persons cases, we did have three new cases come in yesterday that our detectives are working through. So that brings our total to seven. So seven total missing persons cases that that we're going to be going through to make sure that we know where those folks are. In terms of calls for service, like I said, it was a relatively quiet night. 11 total five welfare checks our guys went out on as well as they went out to six reports of suspicious people. A new development for us and really again, to tell you kind of a little bit of the changing condition in terms of just the dangers that are out there felt in empires impossible. According to our folks, our folks don't feel comfortable driving through that area just from falling, you know, falling branches and a little and some fire activity in that area. So overall relatively quiet night. So you know, hopefully it stays that way. And like I explained last night, we're gonna be out here, you know, we have a heavy police presence. And so and all that's to keep your to keep your property to keep your property safe. Thank you. Next up from the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office is Sergeant Saul Juno. Good morning. As a fire chief stated in San Mateo County, the fire situation remains stable with no significant change. Safety and security checks of the evacuated areas also reported no suspicious activity. That's all we have. As you're aware, this incident has a multitude of different agencies in unified command, including multiple fire districts, Cal Fire, as well as the law enforcement agencies. Speaking for that unified team is Cal Fire Incident Management Team three incident commander Billy C. Good morning. Obviously positive news over the last couple of days on the fire. We're able to gain additional perimeter control. Sad to report the over 300 structures damaged or destroyed. And that number is only going to increase. Obviously, a large incident like this encompasses numerous roadways and numerous structures within the interior that is very difficult to get to, especially with the amount of trees that have fallen and the amount of debris that's in the road. Today, we're gonna be focusing not only on perimeter control with our firefighting force out on the ground, but we're developing a road group. And we're gonna systematically start opening roadways up, clearing debris and gaining access to increase the ability for our damage and inspection teams throughout this incident to make interior access to identify any private property that has been damaged or destroyed. This is going to be a long tedious process. The majority of this fire encompasses large old growth timber. Those trees are coming down across the roads. A lot of the wooden bridges that are in the area have either been damaged or burned. They're impossible. So it's going to take some diligent effort on our part to identify access points, get them cleared and get those folks in there so we can do a thorough assessment and provide the most detailed information. Thank you. And our final speaker this morning from the Cal Fire San Mateo Santa Cruz unit chief, excuse me from the Cal Fire San Mateo Santa Cruz unit is unit chief Ian Larkin. Good morning. As Chief C and Chief Brenton stated, we're making progress on this fire. The team is doing an outstanding job with the resources that we have available to us. From the start, we have had a limited number of resources on all the fires that occurred the 22 that we started with, and now the one large incident that we have. The mutual aid system is a robust system, but when it's tasked due to the number of fires across the state, it does limit our ability to get those resources here in a timely manner. So as they start to trickle in, the team is getting them out to the assignments that they can get them to that are our priorities to get control of this fire. And they're doing an outstanding job with that. For the public, as it stated, the roadways are very, very dangerous out there. So those that are still in the fire area, you need to be very cautious in your driving around if you're out and about, or if you're around your property that's been damaged by fire. Those trees are weakened due to fire also due to drought. So please be cognizant of that. The firefighters are out there are putting themselves in positions in that same environment, and we're doing whatever we can to protect them, but also get the roadways open so we can get our damage inspection teams in there to really evaluate what what losses we have, but also determine what structures are still left. So please be please be patient with us. We're doing the best we can with the resources we have. And we're in this for the long haul as I keep stating this is a historic event for this unit. We have never seen fire like this in the history, recent history that we have any records for. So this fuel is very receptive due to drought conditions. So any changes in the weather, though we have good predicted weather for the future could change that environment. So please be bear with us, be safe out there. And I know our crews are working as hard as they possibly can to get control of this fire. Thank you. All right, happy to answer any questions that might be out there. How are we able to make such good progress yesterday and you anticipate a mirror image today as far as weather? Yes, the question was how we were able to make such good progress yesterday and how we might be able to do that today. So Chief from Yeah, so for yesterday in particular, the fact that a lot of things happened, we didn't have what we saw this last week, last week, the heavy north winds, which were hampering us. So we haven't seen that we've seen an increase in the relative humidities at the lower elevations. I'll be at the higher elevations that relative humidity has been still very dry. So conditions are relative to the same there. The winds a big factor when is the number one factor in the spread of fires while in fire. So with the absence of some of those winds that definitely gives us a boost. We have had a little bit of an onshore breeze a little bit. It's it's a little bit more moist and it's and it's really pushing onto the fire where where we would rather have it push. So it gives us an advantage that way. Again, the trickle in of resources once we get more of these the tools that we need to do the job, we're putting those tools to work. And they're the critical tools that we need. So not only the boots on the ground are the dozers, the hand crews, and then very important, the question that's been asked to time and again is about our air program. And the air that was the first time yesterday and you probably all noticed it where you weren't seeing smoke breathing smoke for the most part. Well, that means that we're flying aircraft. So that's a huge, huge element to us. You know, aircraft is a very important tool. It is not the end all be all it's not the silver bullet that a lot of people think it's a it's very visible obviously and it's very powerful tool. But it's it's multifaceted. It's like a Swiss Army knife. You have many tools in that that that we have available to us. So the ground troops, the aircraft, all that combined is is a force multiplier. And with that force multiplier, we have a lot of success. So we had the success yesterday and in the day before to a point, but we're going to see for the next few days, that same success, the weather is going to start changing toward the ends of the week. We're preparing for that. We're adjusting our plans for that. But I think we have a very good plan. And once we can get those boots on the ground, we can put all those those tools together. We're having success. Any other questions? Yeah, any new information about the people who have been reported missing would be for the sheriff's office. Yes. So in terms of missing people, obviously, that's a huge priority. And so we've got a team of about five detectives working on that. And so as information develops, you know, obviously it's it's contacting people that know these folks and and trying to determine where where are they through in a variety of different investigative means it's but it's an absolute priority. And so as I mentioned, a total of seven cases that they're that they're working through. Yeah, there's a there's a few that are in fire affected areas. So those are areas that we want to get to. But due to fire activity and other hazardous conditions that exist out there from falling trees, and it's just it's an impassable road. It's kind of it makes it tough. So that's an absolute priority as soon as we can get in there to do further investigation, we will and then, you know, it's tracking down people to that may not may not be in that area, but maybe elsewhere because they evacuated elsewhere. So it's just trying to locate those folks. Well, I tell you just through personal just personal experience driving around. I mean, it anywhere there's been fire affected area where you've got large trees. I've, you know, felt an empire, Bonnie Dune or Bonnie Dune road, Empire grade, Jameson Creek, all those areas in and around, you know, the north northwest Boulder Creek and then and Bonnie Dune. It's just it's dangerous. I mean, as I mentioned a couple days ago, I mean, we had a tree branch, you know, fall on our one of our cars and damage windshield. So for us, it's it's it's a definite hazard. And so yeah, it's dad's it can definitely present a problem. Firefire, firefire. Yeah, not yet. But I'll tell you what, I'm anxious to find out, you know, we put we put that picture on social media last night and I'm glad we did. And so I'm, I'm, I'm excited that hopefully through social media and a lot of people like, you know, looking at that, that they can give us an idea of who this person is, like I said that that green San Francisco baseball hat, the hair, the kind of the general description of this person, their bill. You know, we're hoping that somebody sees that and says, Hey, that looks like so and so. I can't wait to. I haven't touched base with our detectives yet this morning, but I can't wait to see kind of maybe what's developed from that. And soon as that happens, you folks will be one of the first to know. All right. Any other questions? Yeah. Yeah. So there's a very defined evacuation and repopulation process on these, on these incidents. There's a checklist that involves making sure that all the agencies that might have kind of responsibility in there, anything from public works to Caltrans to sheriff to PG&E to power to internet to bridges that they are all comfortable with that area opening back up. Because as we've said multiple times now, we do not want to get anybody injured. Now that we have started to secure some fire line now is not the time to get injured. And we know that people are desperate to get in there and we know people want to see if their property is still there. But we don't want to that to come at the price of being hurt. So it's incumbent upon the team to make sure that the area is secure for them to go back in. I understand it's painstaking every moment that people can't get in there. But rest assured, there's 24 seven teams, a whole branch set up for that infrastructure and repopulation. And that process and those wheels are already moving. With regard to the folks who stayed within the evac zones and are out there clearing branches and limbs, I saw quite a few of them yesterday on Empire Road. Are they still posing an issue for firefighters who are out there? You also were live in some backfires. Have there been issues about that yesterday? Yeah, you know, this this we spoke a little bit about this last night. Anytime someone is operating within our fire area, and they are not a part of the plan or in communications with the crews that are on the ground in that area, they pose a safety hazard not only to themselves, but to us. And we have reiterated that over and over again. We have, you know, crews using backback burn operations. We have aircraft dumping thousands of gallons of water and retardant on areas. So it's, you know, it's our number one concern is making sure that people are safe and our firefighters are safe. And that is one element that increases the chances of injury. And that for us is is really hard to accept. And to follow that up. Have you had any injuries at all reported as a result of some of that? Yeah, we have not. Obviously, it's unknown whether they actually report that through our structure. We can say for our incident itself with the 1611 firefighters we have out there, we have zero reportable injuries, which, which is great news. Can you tell us how Yeah, it's a great question. It's almost difficult to think about the fact that we're in a pandemic as well right now. As you've seen all over this base camp alone, every step of what this team has done here, this Cal Fire Incident Management Team three is done with the COVID-19 kind of precautions being thought through. So from the moment people check in to the moment they get on their apparatus to the moment they go to briefing, there's precautions at every step. And this is from experience, this team has come off of a large fire in Northern California about two weeks ago. So they're well versed in what COVID-19 precautions look like. They've taken what they learned in Northern California and brought it here locally to this to the San Mateo Santa Cruz unit. Because obviously that is one concern that we also have. Yeah, yeah. Alright, with that everyone up here is available for questions afterwards. We'll see everyone back here at 6pm tonight. This concludes the 6am press conference. Thank you.