Eerie orange haze, ash blankets Santa Cruz neighborhood near CZU Lightning Complex Fire
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (KGO) -- Much of the region is impacted by poor air quality as wildfires burn around the Bay Area, but unless you're in the fire zone, you might not realize just how eerie the scene is up close as monstrous fires burn nearby.
Video shot by a South Bay resident shows the situation in a Santa Cruz neighborhood shrouded in an orange haze that looks like something out of a movie. One clip shared with our newsroom shows a noticeably clearer sky in one direction that turns deep orange toward the direction of the fire.
That same resident also reported seeing ash raining down from the sky, and her video showed a thin layer of ash on some of her outdoor patio furniture and on leaves in her neighborhood.
SEE ALSO: Here are all the fires burning in the Bay Area
"We found a lot of forest leaves, pine needles [covered in ash] like this. It had to travel for miles in the smoke and wind to get to my house on the Westside," she said.
The Santa Cruz resident lives about half a mile from the nearest evacuation zone. She said she learned Saturday that a fire break had been created that would likely spare her neighborhood, but she did know people who had lost their homes.
"It is so surreal and so heartbreaking to watch your community crumble around you," she told ABC7.
Get the latest updates and videos on the CZU, LNU and SCU Lightning Complex Fires here.
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