Lightning Complex fires caused significant damage to Bay Area drinking water infrastructure
By Kiley Russell
A look back at the CZU Lighting Complex Fires
In total, 86,509 acres burned - 135 square miles. 1,490 structures, many of those homes, were destroyed. An additional 140 structures were damaged.
BEN LOMOND, Calif. - As the CZU Lightning Complex fire bore down on Gail Mahood's tree-shrouded Felton neighborhood last August, she gathered what possessions she could and fled.
"As I drove away and saw how fast the fire was moving, I didn't have much hope for my home," Mahood recalled.
Thankfully, fire crews saved the little community of 20 or so houses, stopping the blaze within a half-mile of Mahood's home in the Santa Cruz Mountains, but the pipes that delivered drinking water from a spring just up the hill were completely destroyed.