Loma Fire containment grows to 22 percent, but burn zone spreads

A fire burning in the Santa Cruz Mountains grew by more than 1,500 acres overnight and continued to threaten hundreds of structures, officials said Thursday. The Loma Fire ignited Monday in rugged terrain near Loma Prieta Avenue and Loma Chiquita Road west of Morgan Hill and as of Thursday morning had burned a total of 3,849 acres, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. While the fire continued to spread, falling temperatures on Thursday come at a key moment for firefighters battling the blaze. “Typically, when we have the cooler weather with the lower wind speeds, the fire doesn’t behave as erratically, so we can get closer to the edge,” Sean Cassatt, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said Wednesday. The relatively light winds of 5 to 10 mph in the fire zone are expected to double in strength at the end of the week, with gusts picking up to 25 mph, Mehle said. More than 1,700 firefighters, six air tankers and 15 helicopters were deployed to fight the inferno.