https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/08/20/bay-area-wildfires-grow-closer-mass-evacuations-force-tens-of-thousands-from-homes/ > Tens of thousands of Bay Area residents have been forced from their homes as a ring of blazes burning out of control across the region threatens to swallow up neighborhoods and entire towns, while shorthanded firefighters warn they don’t have the manpower they need to keep the advancing flames at bay. > Authorities have ordered mass evacuations of practically the entire San Lorenzo Valley, from the Peninsula hills to the edge of Santa Cruz and the Pacific Ocean, as a fire that extensively damaged iconic Big Basin Redwoods State Park now advances toward communities along Highway 9. Santa Cruz County on Thursday told tourists and other visitors to leave in order to free up hotels and other lodging for evacuees, and UC Santa Cruz encouraged people to leave the wooded campus as a precaution in case evacuations become necessary.