25-acre wildfire burns near Uvas Reservoir in Santa Clara County

SANTA CLARA COUNTY, Calif. (KGO) -- A fast-moving wildfire raced through the Santa Clara County hills Friday afternoon.

The fire started just after 3 p.m. in a remote part of Santa Clara County near Uvas and Watsonville roads, west of Morgan Hill.

Sandra Long had a scary front row seat. "It was so powerful, it was like a fire tornado. Even the smoke coming off them was like a tornado. It was crazy," said Sandra Long, a resident.

She and her friends had been having fun, putting up party decorations for a Saturday luau, but their mood quickly changed.

"The leaves that were coming, the ashes were coming down. We had leaves that were actually on fire landing on us," Long said.

Cal-fire issued evacuation warnings for 30 homes as 160 firefighters and six aircraft tackled the flames.

"Aircrafts were very quick into the area and helped slow the progression of the fire, but because of the steep and difficult access to the terrain the fire made some significant runs back up toward the hill," said Cal Fire battalion chief Ryan Michael.

On the hillare major PG&E transmission lines.

"The electricity can actually work its way through that smoke and have down strikes underneath there, or if the fire itself destroys the poles it can compromise the lines and then have energized lines in and around the firefighters," Michael said.

PG&E had to de-energize a line for safety, cutting power to 737 customers. Sandra was one of them.

"I was told we'd be up and running by the time my party starts," Long said.

PG&E says power was restored to all customers after an hour and a half, but power poles are burned and will need to be repaired.

The fire burned 25-acres and containment is only at 20 percent, but the fire is not actively growing or burning.