Bonny Doon News

SF Gate, 21 Aug 2020. Why this Bonny Doon family is staying to protect their home from the CZU fire

Natalia Jessen Flechsig has been through this before.

In 2008, the Martin Fire destroyed her family’s home in the southwest part of Bonny Doon in Santa Cruz County and several other structures on their property. She said the damage could have been much worse if her Dad hadn’t stayed on the property and helped defend it from the flames.

Santa Cruz Sentinel, 24 Aug 2020. As Bonny Doon burns, defiant residents refuse to give up the figh

BONNY DOON — Residents up here call it “Battle Mountain.” And despite evacuation orders and condemnation from fire and law enforcement officials, scores of Bonny Doon locals and their supporters are refusing to back down from a guerilla-style fight to protect their homes from flames.

KION News, 24 Aug 2020. Bonny Doon man credited with saving 10 homes from burning down in his neighb

BONNY DOON, Calif. (KION) Mixed in with the devastation, 10 of the homes along Bonny Doon road that still stand are likely because of one of the neighborhood's own. Mark Kuchler and Glenn Hanson never left Bonny Doon after lightning sparked the fire complex that is now 78,000 acres.

KRON 4, 24 Aug 2020. Photojournalist saves 5 homes from CZU fires in Santa Cruz mountains

BOULDER CREEK, Calif. (KRON) — A photojournalist who owns a disaster response company said there are not nearly enough firefighting resources dedicated to the CZU August Lightning Complex wildfires raging in the Santa Cruz mountains.

LA Times, 25 Aug 2020. In Bonny Doon, a ‘ragtag outfit’ stays behind to save homes from wildfires

BONNY DOON, Calif. —

This town northwest of Santa Cruz is known for its wineries, rugged redwood canyons and a Scottish name said to originate from a Robert Burns song.

San Francisco Chronicle, 25 Aug 2020. Santa Cruz Mountains: Fight on to save small towns from CZU C

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY — As a branch of the CZU Lightning Complex fires closed in on Bonny Doon’s lush homesteader ranches and families fled south to Santa Cruz on Thursday night, John Lingemann planted himself atop a knoll and watched.

KQED, 29 Aug 2020. ‘Most Beautiful Place on Earth’: The Citizens Who Stayed Behi

When the CZU Lightning Complex fires ripped through the Santa Cruz mountains, triggering widespread mandatory evacuations, a patchwork army of civilians created their own impromptu firefighting team in Bonny Doon, defying county orders.

Outside, 2 Sept 2020. How We Saved Our Neighborhood from a Wildfire

With the CZU Lightning Complex fire bearing down on them, a rogue group of citizens banded together to stay and defend their homes in the mountains above Santa Cruz, California. Here's how they fought the fire—and won.

Elle, 6 Oct 2020. We Saved Our Family Farm By Fighting The Fire Ourselves

My farm, Deerhaven Herb & Flower Farm, has been in my family for almost 40 years. We have 8,000 lavender plants that we use to make soap, essential oil, and candles. At harvest time in October, people come and pick the lavender themselves, and we also sell floral water and salves.