 Good evening. Welcome to the 6pm press conference here on the CZU lightning complex. My name is Jonathan Cox, deputy chief with Cal Fire San Mateo Santa Cruz unit and the line officer here on the incident. As always, if you could just mute your cell phones and take any conversations away from the press conference area, as well as keep your mask on at all times. It will be greatly appreciated. We will have time at the end as usual for questions and answers with all of the representatives up here. With that, just the 6pm incident information on the complex itself. The fire is now 85,060 acres. 85060. Containment has gone up to 41% percent. The fire is now 41% contained. There are still 6759 structures that are threatened and the destroyed structure count is now up to 1453. Of those 1453, 52 are in San Mateo County, eight of which are single family residents. There's 1400 1401 structures destroyed in Santa Cruz County. 901 of those are single family dwellings. We continue to increase the personnel assigned to the fire. We now have 2394 firefighting personnel on the line. And as we've discussed over the last few days, the incident is really transitioning from a mitigation to a recovery phase as we continue to improve the lines. With that, just understanding and recognizing that resources are very much being directed to each of the individual counties. Now, instead of the incident, it's each individual county and we'll get more information on that this evening. With that, just a quick operations update from Cal Fire incident management team three operations section chief Mark Brunner. Good evening. So we've had it yet another really good day of suppression activities on this incident. Predominantly in the northern north zone near Botano Park has been a majority of our work today. Construction of line getting in there and really getting into the heart of the fire that exists there. Doing some burn operations to straighten up the lines and to make sure that the fire is fully out and insert portion. So a lot of work today and a lot of continued work on the coming days. The coast is looking really good. A lot of mop up in those areas to take care of those hot spots around Davenport that's looking really good with the repopulated area there. The southern end of the fires is doing rather well and we've got a lot of mop up in that area. Moving up the highway nine corridor just outside of the community of Felton. We continue to mop up along the lines all the way up towards Boulder Creek and beyond. Again that line construction is ongoing and being improved. Very steep area and a lot of heavy fuels. A lot of burned out trees that are still falling. We have what's called rollout and some of it crossing lines and we're just continuously monitoring that picking that up as it occurs and that's going to be something we're going to see for the days to come. With the repopulation we are getting numerous calls for calls for service. People are detecting smoke, seeing smokes outside or near the line but outside of their property and that sort of thing. So we're responding to those, taking care of those and something we will see in the coming days especially as the weather gets hot and drier which will happen mid to late next week. The community of Bonnie Doon. A lot of really good works being completed within that area. Getting lines around all the various fires and the spot fires that had occurred. The burned out areas and rendering that safe. Roadways being kept open so the utility companies can get into their work. A lot of work being done by the utility companies throughout the fire. So we're maintaining that. Just got back from the state park. Big basin and pretty devastating in there. Significant devastation within that park and so there's a lot of work to make that safe in there and to get the utility companies so that they can start doing the repairs through that area. For our air program they've done quite a bit of flying this afternoon when the air cleared. I've dropped just under 100,000 gallons of water just today. And again as the weather starts clearing and becomes more conducive for a flying. They're continuing to do good work in the coming days. And then today was the first day that we started fire suppression repair. So those teams are going in and cleaning up our fire lines and making those so that they can weather the coming weather of this winter and not cause erosion or anything of that nature. And today was the first day that we use our national guard crews to go in and so we've worked them throughout the fire whether it be in the north zone south zone and Bonnie Dune area and in the suppression repair. So we've divided those out among those different suppression efforts and utilizing the staffing amount prior they bring to the incident to assist us get us another day closer to recovery and completing this incident. Speaking next from the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office is Chief Deputy Chris Clark. Well, good evening. Today was a busy day, really busy day. And so and frustrating to I can imagine for people that are watching this that are sitting someplace and really hoping to get home. And so what I wanted to do is really provide some perspective on what's going on because it's myself, the sheriff we drove around today. And I kind of want to just kind of give you a picture of what we saw today. But this is something we do. And we've done every day since this event started, you know, we were given information through Cal Fire Cal Fire is doing an outstanding job and trying to put out this fire. And the utility companies are also working just as equally hard, even before the fires completely contained and completely put out. So today, you know, we drove around we drove throughout the county. And so and really what we saw was that this area that's that's this fire impacted areas still very, very dangerous. And there's a lot going on. You couldn't even go it we drove Empire grade, you couldn't go 50 yards without a number of PG&E trucks. I mean, really, there's so many different PG&E resources here in the county trying to get those lines back up that it's just incredible to see that amount of people working and really trying to string lines and doing all that. I couldn't imagine them doing that work while people are trying to drive along Empire grade so that so them having the ability to work in that area is extremely important to get those utilities back and just makes that situation safer for them. It makes it safer for anybody else that's on the road, but we drove other areas like McGevern, for example, off of Empire grade. And so and there's still fire crews in that area, still working to make sure that the fires completely contained and put out. And then we drove swatting the last chance and back around through through through Jameson Creek and and and highway nine back towards Felton and really just the dangers that exist from falling trees there. I mean, the county I couldn't speak more highly of county roads and the timber companies working literally nearly around the clock and trying to get those trees out of there to make those areas safe. I mean, just the thought of potentially a fire impact the tree dropping onto a car or dropping onto a road. You can't get out. Those things are happening now and they'll continue to happen until those areas are safe to get you back home. And that and that absolutely is our goal is to get you home as is safely and as efficiently as possible. And so we're getting as I mentioned before, it's a day by day process. And while today necessarily, we weren't able to get people home and you know, and we've said this before, we want to get people home as we want to get you home as fast as we can. But these folks, they have to have room to work. And so really that that was a huge priority today in terms of getting that making that area safer. And so we're going to take this day by day and there's going to be areas that are going to become more and more available as we go on. And so I just encourage you to you know, to keep you know, keep up to date on on our social media and in Cal Fire's website as we start repopulating these areas. But you know, today's another I'm sorry, tomorrow is another day. And so there will be more areas opening as the days go on. The other thing I want to talk about is water in the San Lorenzo Valley. So another issue, you know, in trying to get you back home the water, if you've gone to the San Lorenzo Valley Water Board website, the water is not drinkable north of Brookdale. And that's a huge that's a huge problem. And so in trying to get that water back, the SLV Water District is working extremely hard and getting those pipelines put back and making that water safe again, but definitely check SLV Water District's website to make sure that you're up to date on on that water situation, especially if you haven't evacuated in that area. So you definitely if you live north of Brookdale, they're in especially the fire impacted areas. You know, the SLV Water District's advice, you just can't drink the water, you can't even brush your teeth with it. But it's just that unhealthy. In terms of our resources. Today, we had 53 people, officers and deputies that were driving around protecting the evacuated areas tonight, we're going to have 46. And again, 24 from our agency, 12 from in County and then 10 mutual aid officers from over the hill. In terms of calls for service, we responded to two suspicious people and one welfare check and we made two arrests. And these are two people that didn't belong in the area that had no business being here. And our folks came across them and they ended up going to jail. There we have just the two missing persons cases total. We did develop one overnight. And so our detectives are working on that. And again, we will continue to work on that until we find where these where these folks are. The other piece I want to touch on briefly is escorts. So we have, you know, people absolutely need medication and things essential to life. We've been we've been making that happen. And so we understand that sometimes, you know, in the rush to get out of your home, you couldn't get something that you absolutely had to have. And so we've been working diligently as these days have progressed and getting people back to their homes potentially get things that they have to have. And then what you'll hear Chief Cox mentioned tonight at the culmination of this press conference is that we're going to go to more of a as an as needed basis for these press conferences. But what I want to what we want to assure people is that our we absolutely can empathize that you need updates. You want to know what's going on. And so we want to provide you with that information. And so just because these press conferences in this format may not continue at least not on a routine and regular basis. That's not going to stop us from providing you with information as we know it. And things that that that you knew that we feel you need to know or allowing you to be able to reach out to us to ask us questions. And so please, you know, stay stay tuned our Facebook page. If you have questions, I feel that a number of emails, you know, we want to know what you have to say. And so we've even our press information officer has reached out to people as they posted comments about certain things. So we want to hear from you and we want to provide you information so that absolutely will not change until we're able to get everybody home. Thank you. Next from the San Mateo County Sheriff's office is Detective Blanksway. Thank you. Good evening. As you heard, these press conferences are in the wrap up phase. And we want to tell you how much we have learned not only from communicating with our partners here, but also from communicating with the public and the manner in which we did that. So we've definitely gained a lot from this incident. The community and the and the neighbors that have been affected by this, we know that there has definitely been some hardships. It's hard. We know to be patient when it feels like maybe you're not getting a lot of information, but we will continue to give you that information. You can find a lot of it on our social media pages. So Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and also most importantly on the Sheriff's app where you can get all of those platforms without needing to register or sign up for anything. We want to express our sincerest appreciation for everyone who has showed patience and cooperation and understanding during this emergency response. We will continue to do the safety and security patrols throughout the evacuated areas and throughout San Mateo County as a whole as well. And a lot of work has been done, as you heard already from Chief Brutton and also from Chief Clark as well. A lot of work is being done even though you might not necessarily see it. We have been doing the best that we can to show that behind the scenes information on our social media platforms through the stories portion. So definitely stay up to date as best as you can with those and check out all the hard work that's really being done through all of our partners. Department of Public Works, PG&E, and a lot of the support staff as well that's going into making sure that this is truly a recovery phase. And although this might be one of the last press conferences, we want to keep everyone informed like I said on social media and we can only begin to tell you how grateful we are for everyone being so engaged with us on those different platforms. It's definitely been unprecedented times as you've heard from all the fire personnel, but the engagement that we've seen from the community and our neighbors as a whole has been absolutely touching. So thank you again to all of our partners and to all of you. Next is representing all of the Unified Incident Commanders on the incident is Cal Fire Incident Management Team 3, IC Billy C. Good evening. Obviously you're hearing a lot about this may be one of the last daily press conferences we do. Rust assured we're still going to have quite the large contingent of firefighters out working on the ground each and every day. And with that said there's going to be a lot of fire engines and apparatus pickups coming through and they're going to be challenged with the roadways with the population increase back in a lot of these areas. So just be cognizant of the amount of fire traffic that's going to be moving up and down the roads over the next few days. Firefighters are working diligently gaining access or gaining ground each day increasing the containment efforts. So we've got warmer and drier conditions coming in the next few days. We anticipate and predict that there is going to be increased smoke from time to time in different areas that heat up when the moisture decreases and the temperature increases. So we'll have firefighters out on the line diligently monitoring those areas and taking care of any hot spots that should arise. Thank you. And speaking next representing the Cal Fire San Mateo Santa Cruz unit is unit chief Ian Larkin. So another good day. We continue to see progress with our containment numbers going up and that's always good. So as it's been stated since we've started to repopulate the areas of Ben Lohman at Felton and we just want to make sure everybody's vigilant out there watching the roadways and making sure you're paying attention to those apparatus and those pickups that are coming through so they don't have an incident where somebody may have an accident. So those firefighters are out there to make sure that the line is contained. They're going to be patrolling that and putting out hot spots throughout the area for many weeks to come. This is an 86,000 almost 86,000 acre fire and we're going to be here probably until it rains doing this chasing smokes throughout the interior as well as a perimeter. So chief C alluded to we have some weather coming in and this will be a real test to our line as that weather comes in and we'll make sure that we hold that line so we don't get any growth of the fire. I just want to reiterate to folks that are entering back into their homes to be vigilant through this remainder of the fire season. You know there is potential that new fires can start throughout the communities and just be vigilant and be ready in that event. Really right now is the time for that recovery phase and you're going to hear some more about that just in a minute to start that process. Santa Cruz County and San Mateo County both have their damage inspection websites up so that you can find out whether your structure, if you're still evacuated was damaged or destroyed and if it has been now's the time to start that process and reach out to the recovery centers or the local assistance centers in the two counties to start that process. So with that you know we appreciate your patience and just bear with us a bit longer until we can get everybody back into their homes. Thank you. Our final speaker this evening from the Santa Cruz County Emergency Operations Center is the Emergency Operations Manager Rosemary Anderson. Good evening everyone. So as you've heard the previous speakers speak we are really heavy in the recovery phase right now. The County Emergency Operations Center really stands in support of all of the activities that are happening out in the field which is includes shelters. We are consolidating our shelters this week and we'll have only five shelters remaining open and they will be at the fairgrounds, the Seventh Day Adventist Camp, Harbor High School and Simpkins Swim Center. We still have an active COVID incident as well so we're running all those shelters separate from the fire incident. We stood up our Recovery Resource Center on Saturday morning and that is located at 114 Front Street at the Kaiser Permanente Stadium. We had about 350 people come through there on Saturday about 266 yesterday and the count today is about 225. We have federal FEMA trailers just adjacent to where the stadium is. We have state and other partners inside the Resource Center as well as nonprofit organizations and other resources for people that need information about how to rebuild from everything from the DMV to the franchise task support etc. We're hoping to have the list of all those agencies. We've been improving the information about what those agencies do and how people can access them and why they would need to see them. A lot of times that's the overwhelming thing in recovery. Who do I need to see first? What do I need to do? We've been pushing things out also on our social media and Facebook pages but understand that people who are displaced from their homes or living in areas that they don't have access to the internet. We're trying to bring that information to those areas to people directly in the way of flyers and phone numbers and things where they can get information without having to access the internet. By keeping in mind that our our social media presence along with linking with all of our partners is really the best place to get the most comprehensive information especially because it changes daily. We have two donation sites that are set up and there's updated information on our website for that about what specific needs they are. We're really channeling people through the community foundation specifically for cash donations and they can donate to different areas but we also have a large amount of donated items that we're getting to evacuees. Those site hours change today from 10 to 4 daily and they're open from Monday through Saturday and they have been doing some amazing work. Our volunteers that are working out in the recovery resource center are shelters as well as these donation centers has just been astounding. I've lived in the county for 45 years been through every disaster I've never seen such an outpouring of support community involvement and just the collaboration between all all of our agencies it's it's should make you feel really proud to live here. We also are working to stand up a recovery branch in our emergency operations center that will really cover all things about what people need to understand our businesses and and for public assistance of what female will be able to offer how that's going to work. How they're going to be able to file their claims and so forth. And again we have some great partnership sitting in our emergency operations helping us get that information get it out to where it needs to go and I'll be available for any questions after thank you. So as you probably heard we will be going to an as needed basis on the press conferences just to align to make sure everybody understands the information. Fire information will still be coming out six a.m. and six p.m. daily as far as the latest number in containment's ongoing. Additionally the operations briefings have been broadcast on Twitter and Facebook for really specific information about the firefight. As we go forward evacuation information will also be broadcast through each respective sheriff's agencies information portals and channels and the recovery aspect of this incident really goes to each individual county so each website in the respective county and social media is the kind of go to spot for that information. So as this kind of transitions to a recovery phase we get that a little bit of separation of different responsibilities and just making sure everybody knows where to go to get the latest information. With that we're happening in certain questions. So the question was related to the vehicle that went over the cliff Greywell Cove and Highway 1 this morning. That was an unrelated traffic accident where a vehicle left Highway 1 over the cliff and firefighters performed a cliff rescue. Yeah the question is how much of the inspection process is complete and I believe Chief C has that answer. The damage and section process is about 95% complete. Right now we're doing cleanup work using narrow imagery and comparing it to the ground truth that has been done by the field personnel. So over the course of the next four or five days we should be at 100% and have everything ground truth. Five shelters but you enlisted four. So the question was related to how many shelters in Santa Cruz County there's four shelters in Santa Cruz County. Randy Gordon KVC Zeeb or Creek Community Radio. Now that we are entering into a recovery phase and the Cal Fire press briefings are coming to a close. In the future will will there be any other agencies represented in the press conferences that we that are held will we be able to hear from representatives from PG&E, SOV Water District, Caltrans. Some of those various agencies FEMA, EOC about you know with updates about the progress that they're making regarding repairs and what residents returning to their properties need to be aware of. Yes the question is related to individual representation from other agencies or cooperators as far as information flows are concerned. And you know as this incident continues as the firefighting still goes on the coordination with all those individual agencies occurs internally as far as the repopulation process is concerned. Once that transition back to the repopulated areas that have been kind of heavily impacted. That's one of more one-on-one between communities and individual agencies would occur. And that will really take place once those areas are repopulated and made safe. Their focus right now obviously is to get the area safe to get people back. And I think if you have specific questions for them, we can help you find the right contact. And I can just mention also that on our recovery website, we will have all of those agencies and places that people can get that information. So it's all linked from one place. Obviously you can go to other agency websites and find that information. We're trying to pull all of that into that recovery page so that people can find it readily and easily. And really encourage you to go to the recovery resource center even as media and see what's available there and what we are doing in terms of outreach for our partners. I did fail to mention that the Red Cross is taking over the operations for our remaining shelters and the transitioning our county staff support out of those shelters and the Red Cross will be operating those shelters until we demobilize them and people are able to get back repopulated to their houses. Could you repeat that website address one more time? It is the county of Santa Cruz website and I'm sorry I don't know the actual URL. But if you just Google the county of Santa Cruz on the front page, it has all of our COVID-19 information that you can click on immediately and then the CZU lightning fire tab is right available on the front page as well. Do we have a definitive answer about the safety of the water in the areas that aren't affected by the do not drink, do not boil notice? So the question is related to the status of the water outside of the do not drink boil notice and Chief Clark will probably have more information on that. Sure Andy I would pay special attention to the SOV Water District website. What I was told today I had a conversation with them was that really that do not drink and even boiling doesn't matter is just really affecting that Brookdale area and then north and then obviously the Bonnie Dune area that were impacted by fire. That's basically it was the impact of the as I understand it water was transmitted through like PVC type pipes and so fire obviously got damaged those pipes and so it allowed contaminants to get into that conduit and so they just don't feel comfortable with people consuming the water until they've had a chance to test it repair or repair the lines test it and do all those things to make sure the water safe to drink. So without being an authority on the water I would definitely check the SOV Water District website to make sure that I have the best information and I want to say that was updated at like 3 o'clock this afternoon with new information. All right well everyone up here is available for one on one questions should you have any I just want to say thank you for joining us and this concludes the 6 p.m. press conference.