SCU Fires Burn 400,000 Acres; 82% Contained

BAY AREA, CA — Firefighters made some progress on the SCU Lightning Complex of fires with a footprint in six counties, Cal Fire officials said Friday morning.

As of 7 a.m., containment was 82 percent, up 2 percent from Thursday evening. Full containment is expected Sept. 12, incident spokesman Jake Miller said.

This weekend officials expect more challenging conditions than in the past week and they'll be monitoring the well-being of firefighters.

"It's going to be hot out there," Miller said.

There's an excessive heat warning for Saturday, Sunday and Monday, he said. Temperatures are expected to be in the 90s across most of the fire region, with the chance of 100s, he said.

Miller said firefighters will be doing as much work as possible in the morning and evening when it's cooler and more patrolling in the afternoon when the heat sets in.

The fire started 16 days ago in several locations and has burned into a massive blaze that's scorched nearly 400,000 acres and destroyed 131 structures, according to Cal Fire officials.

Much of the fire is contained in the six counties consisting of Alameda, Santa Clara, Stanislaus, Contra Costa, Merced and San Joaquin, Miller said. But firefighters are still working mainly near Gilroy and Morgan Hill to put out the rest of the blaze, he said.

Portions of the footprint are still under mandatory evacuation orders. A list of those areas can be found at https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/2020/8/18/scu-lightning-complex/.

Miller encourages residents to monitor Cal Fire's social media pages for the latest information on the fire.

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