Quick Take:
The fires destroyed more than 900 homes and changed many lives around Santa Cruz County. And the rebuilding efforts have been halting and tough. We look back and the people and issues we’ve covered, even as we look ahead.
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Cracks of thunder, odd rainfall, and the scent in the air made some of us wonder this week, and remember. It’s been two years since the catastrophic CZU fires of August 2020. Could it be happening again?
Then, red, orange and black skies hovered above, portending the fires that would consume more than 900 homes and upend so many lives, while pre-vaccine COVID terrors afflicted us on the ground. It was an odd, surreal time for all of us, and for many life-changing.
While Lookout launched three months after those fires, we’ve covered their aftermath in great, and personal, detail. We continue to build on that coverage, as the rebuilding of homes, and lives, is still, at best, midstream.
Here, we’ve collected some of that coverage that endures. We focus on personal stories coming out of the nightmare, the rebuilding effort and our series on where we were at one year ago. We also include our three-part Wildfire Resource Center, still handy as we approach the late summer/early fall fire season.
On Sunday, Wallace Baine, having endured his own recent fire scare, puts our collective experience into perspective.
LOOKOUT’S CZU COVERAGE