Martin Fire Shelter Closes Early

As of Friday morning, the shelter at Scotts Valley Middle School was a ghost town.

BY WILL MOSHER

In the middle of the worst fire season in recent memory, one might expect the local emergency shelters to be overflowing with soot-covered refugees, but they aren’t—at least not when the disaster victims are well-heeled enough to get a room somewhere.

On the morning of Friday, June 13, with 600 acres in nearby Bonny Doon charred and the fire just 25 percent contained, the emergency shelter set up at Scotts Valley Middle School for residents fleeing the Martin fire was abandoned, except for a few janitors cleaning the bathrooms. The last evacuees had already left.

According to Cal Fire, approximately 1,700 residents were contacted for mandatory evacuation on Wednesday afternoon, hours after the fire broke out near Moon Rocks, but few used the emergency shelter provided by the Red Cross. Only 51 people registered for shelter on Wednesday evening, and just 30 of them stayed the night. By Thursday night, that number had dropped to three people.

David Wright, CEO of the Santa Cruz Chapter of the Red Cross, said Bonny Doon residents had no trouble finding shelter, since most have friends in the area and can afford rooms in hotels. “This is a community that takes care of themselves pretty well,” said Wright.

Even the Summit fire, which was more destructive than the Martin fire has been so far, drew in no more than 22 people on the first night, according to Wright, and three the next. Wright says that’s because, while the earlier fire destroyed more homes, there were fewer evacuations.

“We’ll usually stay with a person or a family for a couple weeks to make sure that they have everything they need. We're still working with cases from the Summit fire.”