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SANTA CRUZ MOUNTAINS — A wildfire with flames ten stories high doubled in size overnight, burning as many as 2,000 acres in the Santa Cruz Mountains by Tuesday morning, destroying two structures and forcing hundreds to flee the area while crews from as far away as Napa rushed to contain the blaze.

With helicopters and fixed-wing planes dropping retardant along Loma Prieta ridge 11 miles west of Morgan Hill, 500 firefighters battled record-high temperatures, heavy vegetation and steep terrain in their efforts to corral the fire; by 8 a.m., the Loma Fire was only five percent contained while a firefighter sustained a minor eye injury and was taken to a hospital for treatment.

As crews struggled to slow the fire’s spread, new evacuations were ordered, including the Swedish resort community of Sveadal near Uvas Canyon Park. Tuesday morning, Croy Road was closed at Uvas Road.

Early Tuesday morning, Battalion Chief Mike Mathison with Alma Hill Attack said the fire had grown to 2,000 acres overnight and was heading toward Hecker Pass Road. Mathison said the fire crews were hoping to hold the line at Summit Road, but 10-mile-per-hour winds from the west were slowly pushing the fire up the hill.

Becky Farley, who lives on Loma Prieta Road where an evacuation order was in place early Tuesday, said she’d been planning for just such an emergency.

“We have a 30-minute plan and a 2-hour plan,” she said. The first means: “Grab the kids and certain memorabilia, and go,” while the two-hour plan allows for more measured departure including taking pictures off the wall.

“We’re not being stupid,” she said. “We’re watching. I’m pretty exhausted. I slept four or five hours and kept watching the ridge. Everything is packed.”

Overnight, firefighters set up dozer lines to box in the fire and protect structures. Mathison said he had seen 40-foot flames on Mount Bache.

Cal Fire spokesman George Hoyt said early Tuesday that the fire was continuing to spread along Loma Chiquita and Loma Prieta roads, burning sections of Mt. Loma Prieta, Mt. Chual and the Uvas Creek drainages. He said there were four helicopters and six air tankers hitting the fire from the air.

A mandatory evacuation order was in place for the Loma Prieta ridgeline, including all tributary roads off Summit Road from Soquel San Jose Road to the Ormsby Fire Station. Also included in the order was the Uvas Canyon County Park, the Loma Chiquita area, Casa Loma Road and Loma Prieta Way, Highland Way and Mt. Bache road, along with portions of Croy Road.

The Loma Fire, visible for miles both in the South Bay and the Santa Cruz region, was reported at 2:42 p.m. Monday on Loma Chiquita Road near Loma Prieta Road on the southern edge of Santa Clara County almost exactly between Highway 17 and Highway 101. At least one structure was destroyed, and as many as 300 homes were threatened and a corresponding number of evacuations were ordered.

There were no reported injuries and the cause of the fire was not immediately released by authorities.

Evacuee and resident Doreenann Bellamy said the high temperatures and area vegetation created a perfect environment for a wildfire.

“We have bay trees, manzanita, the really oily fire fuelers,” Bellamy said, as she toted her dog, crates of photo albums in her pickup truck as her husband strode alongside in his 1969 Ford Mustang.

Also among her essentials? A cache of firearms.

“Everyone on the mountain has guns, and you’ve got to grab your guns first,” she said.

Bellamy was among dozens of residents affected by a wide-reaching evacuation order for homes from the Loma Prieta peak along all 10 miles of Casa Loma Road leading to Uvas Road, and all of Summit Road from the peak to Uvas Road and areas south of that route.

Evacuations were also occurring on Mt. Bache Road and Highland Way. The Red Cross has set up evacuation centers — offering food, water, help with temporary housing, and care for small animals — at Soquel High School, Morgan Hill Presbyterian Church, the Jewish Community Center in Los Gatos, and residents in the affected area set up a fire-assistance page online.

A “Reverse 911” — automated phone alerts for homes — was also deployed to warn area residents, and Santa Clara County sheriff’s deputies were going door to door calling out evacuation orders on loudspeakers and clearing each home individually.

“We’ll be working through the night. There will be evacuations throughout the night,” sheriff’s Sgt. Rich Glennon said.

At the main firefighter staging area at Rancho Cañada del Oro — along Casa Loma Road about 2 miles west of Uvas Road in Morgan Hill — dozens of residents from the fire zone gathered to assess their losses, but also value what they preserved.

They came in riding or towing all-terrain vehicles and pulling horse trailers and carrying family pets, photo albums and other irreplaceables.

Danielle Mays, who lives a mile from the fire’s origin, said she moved there just over a month ago. She anxiously waited for a neighbor to get to the staging area with her Boston terrier Layla and her cat Callie.

“That’s it; that’s what matters,” Mays said. “I have fire insurance for the rest.”

Resident Jennifer Swifteagle said she could hear the booming evacuation orders while driving to the staging area.

“They were saying, ‘Evacuate the area, evacuate your homes.’ They didn’t have to say why. Everyone could see and smell it,” Swifteagle said.

She described a man arriving at the staging area from the mountain in tears after apparently losing his home but preserving what was most precious to him.

“He said he was just glad he got himself and his kids out with their lives,” Swifteagle said. “It was sad.”

Multiple air tankers and helicopter units from fire and police agencies throughout the area have been called to the site. The San Jose Fire Department sent a half-dozen engines and water tenders to the firefighting effort, and the California Highway Patrol has also contributed personnel.

Besides the homes, the fire also threatened a set of radio towers that repeat signals across the mountains.

The Loma fire broke out as temperatures in the area reached 100 degrees and authorities were already gauging fire risks for the rest of the week. In San Jose, officials closed Alum Rock Park Tuesday, citing the fire danger from the heat.

That same heat is largely responsible for spot fires throughout the region: San Jose firefighters had just finished knocking down a grass fire that broke out along Interstate 280 and 10th Street in downtown San Jose when they were summoned to help with the Loma fire.

As the day waned, cars and trucks came down the mountain carrying a menagerie of animals, some including baby goats, prized chickens, and numerous horse trailers.

Renee and Alan Merrick stuffed the back of an SUV with cages full of nine pairs of breeding parrots. Both bore beak wounds on their hands.

“Eight years ago our house burned down in an electrical fire,” said Renee Merrick. “We lost 13 parrots. I couldn’t believe that we’re reliving it again.”

Alan said he could see the flames less than a mile away through the trees.

“It was coming,” he said. “It was time to go.”

Bay Area News Group staff writer Eric Kurhi and Santa Cruz Sentinel staff writer Ryan Masters contributed to this report.