Easing winds help firefighters battle 2 Northern California blazes

With a little help from Mother Nature and the governor’s office, firefighters began to get the upper hand today on two stubborn blazes that threatened thousands of homes in Butte and Santa Cruz counties.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in each of the counties, ordering more crews, aerial tankers and other equipment into the battle against the fires, the latest in a three-day siege of wind-whipped blazes to hit Northern California.

The National Weather Service had predicted continued big winds today, but the breezes eased more than expected and shifted, bringing in moister air and aiding firefighters in particular on the blaze threatening more than 1,000 residences and 50 businesses in the rural Santa Cruz County community of Bonny Doon.

“That decrease in the winds has allowed us to aggressively go in” to fight the Bonny Doon blaze, said Daniel Berlant, a spokesman for the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

More than 700 firefighters, the bulk of them from the state, were surrounding the blaze, which started Wednesday afternoon and by this morning had grown to 700 acres, with just 5% contained.

The fire, located in a remote corner of the county about a dozen miles from the coast, is the second to hit Santa Cruz County. Two weeks ago, a mountain blaze to the east destroyed 38 structures and blackened 4,000 acres.

Butte County, meanwhile, continued to reel from its second big blaze in just the last three days.

A fire outside of Oroville destroyed more than 20 homes before it was controlled earlier this week. The latest blaze erupted in a swath of wild lands east of Chico and spread quickly on Wednesday with the winds.

By today, that fire had grown to 6,000 acres, making runs up several canyons and threatening 1,650 structures, Berlant said. By noon, more than 600 firefighters were on the scene, but the blaze was just 10% contained.

“Compared to the last couple of days, the winds are much better,” Berlant said. “But it’s still hot, and there’s still some wind, so there is still potential for new fires, or for existing blazes to spread.”

Schwarzenegger’s emergency declarations for the two counties included an order to activate the state’s DC-10 and DC-7 retardant-dropping aircraft as well as to shift additional firefighters to the region. The state Office of Emergency Services was monitoring the incidents along with the forestry department.

Schwarzenegger said in a statement that the state “is committed to doing whatever it takes” to battle the blazes.

 eric.bailey@latimes.com