{"id":"7","article_title":"Weather helps firefighters get control of wildfire","category_id":"1","article_date":"2012-10-23","article_summary":"Days of moist, cool weather helped firefighters get a handle on a destructive wildfire in the Santa Cruz Mountains that scorched 3,900 acres and at<br>","article_content":"<img title=\"Image: http:\/\/www.myvivvo.com\/thumbnail.php?file=art.wildfire.kgo_660932793.jpg&amp;size=article_medium\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myvivvo.com\/thumbnail.php?file=art.wildfire.kgo_660932793.jpg&amp;size=article_medium\" alt=\"Weather helps firefighters get control of wildfire\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n                                \r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span>Days of moist, cool weather helped firefighters get a handle \r\non a destructive wildfire in the Santa Cruz Mountains that scorched \r\n3,900 acres and at least 29 homes.<br><br>Easing winds and lower \r\ntemperatures helped keep the blaze from spreading and fire crews had the\r\n blaze mostly contained early Monday, according to the California \r\nDepartment of Forestry and Fire Prevention.<br><br>\"It's really not moving at all,\" said David Coursey, a department spokesman.<br><br>The\r\n 6-square-mile fire was expected to be fully surrounded by Tuesday, fire\r\n officials said. The blaze still threatened 550 homes and 20 commercial \r\nbuildings.<br><br>While some evacuees were let in on an hour-by-hour \r\nbasis to survey the damage, hundreds of residents were told to stay away\r\n following the outbreak of the fire in the mountainous region about 15 \r\nmiles south of San Jose.<br><br>Five firefighters have suffered minor injuries.<br><br>In\r\n a community meeting at a church Sunday afternoon, residents eager to \r\nsleep in their own beds were given bad news. Officials said a quick turn\r\n in weather could re-ignite the blaze, and that they would have to wait \r\nuntil Tuesday to return home.<br><br>Meanwhile, nearly 3,000 personnel \r\nworked to cut fire lines through centuries-old redwood forests as a \r\nswarm of helicopters and air tankers doused flames from the sky.<br><br>Gov.\r\n Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency for Santa Cruz and \r\nSanta Clara counties to allow access to state funds. The firefighting \r\neffort has cost $6.1 million so far, Coursey said.<br><br>Smoke from the\r\n wildfire has left a haze over the San Francisco Bay area that was \r\nexpected to linger through the Memorial Day weekend.<br><br>Investigators\r\n are still probing the cause of the fire, which broke out just as the \r\nstate's unofficial fire season got under way in mid-May. The blaze \r\nerupted following the state's driest two-month period on record.<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><br>","created_by":null,"created":null,"modified_by":null,"modified":null}