Quick Take
Lookout photojournalist Kevin Painchaud describes what he saw in the days and weeks after the CZU Lightning Complex fire ignited in 2020 and the resilience of Santa Cruz Mountains communities in the five years since.
On Aug. 18, 2020, I drove north along Highway 1. The CZU Lightning Complex fire had ignited near Davenport and Waddell Creek, and a dense column of smoke rose from the mountains ahead of me.
The sunlight filtered through the smoke, casting a golden glow over the coast. It was beautiful and eerie at the same time. The roads were empty, except for an occasional Cal Fire truck driving past. But besides that, it felt like I was on a desolate island, the silence heavy with tension.
As I passed Swanton and approached Waddell Creek, the true scale of the fire began to sink in. Looking inland toward the mountains that loom over the coast, I saw the entire range blanketed in thick smoke. The haunting glow of burning hillsides lit the ridges for miles.
Over the next month, the blaze would rage across 86,509 acres, destroy 1,490 buildings, and consume 97% of Big Basin Redwoods State Park. It wasn’t until Sept. 22, 37 days after it began, that the fire was finally declared fully contained.
During that first week, I made as many trips into the mountains as conditions would allow. The day after Big Basin burned, I drove within three-quarters of a mile of the park entrance before being stopped by a massive fallen tree that blocked the road. Driving onto Swanton Road, I passed charred shells of homes that stood as stark reminders of what had been lost. In Boulder Creek, I saw firefighters pushing themselves to exhaustion, fighting to protect what they could.
I witnessed firsthand the devastation the CZU fire inflicted on Santa Cruz Mountains communities. Now I look back at my photographs and see something else: resilience.
In 2025, I revisited many of the places I photographed during the CZU fire to document what they look like five years later. Neighborhoods that burned to the ground now have new homes. Forests that had been decimated by flames are seeing green shoots pushing through the ash and redwoods sprouting fresh growth from their scorched trunks. Life has returned, not only in nature, but in the communities that had to be brought back from the brink.
For the communities of Bonny Doon, Boulder Creek, Swanton and Felton, the fire left more than physical damage. It carved deep emotional wounds, reshaping lives and memories. But alongside those scars is an enduring spirit. The people of these mountains rebuilt, supported one another and found strength in their shared recovery.
The CZU Lightning Complex fire will always be remembered for its destruction. The scars remain, on the land and in the hearts of those who lived through it. And yet five years on, CZU has also become a story of survival, of a forest that refuses to disappear and of a community that continues to endure.
Photo gallery: Before and after
Five years after the CZU Lightning Complex fires scarred the Santa Cruz Mountains, Lookout photojournalist Kevin Painchaud revisited the landmarks and landscapes he captured during the harrowing days of August and September 2020. These interactive images reveal the transformation of familiar places, from charred devastation to gradual renewal. Move the slider to witness the passage of time.
Big Basin Redwoods State Park
On Sept. 3, 2020, a small group of journalists, including myself, was granted access to Big Basin Redwoods State Park. The destruction was widespread. Returning to the same spots five years later, the resilience of nature is inspiring. What were once blackened trunks with their limbs burned away are now bursting with fresh green growth.
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