Chimney Sweep

Historic Pescadero Pie Ranch farmhouse, inbuilt 1863, incinerated in CZU Complicated fires

The historic Pie Ranch farmhouse in Pescadero was destroyed by the CZU Lightning Complex, according to a Facebook post from the ranch’s co-founder.

Nancy Vail, the executive director and co-founder of the nonprofit organic education farm, posted a video on Facebook of the farmhouse chimney sticking out of a pile of rubble shrouded in red and orange flames.

“I thought we were clear, but a glow fell on the historic Pie Ranch farmhouse from 1863 and it’s gone,” Vail wrote. “May this be the beginning of the transformation, may we decide to bring back indigenous knowledge, to heal the damage caused since colonization, to bring justice to the land and people, to build resilient houses for all people, to practice everything in a climate-friendly way, people to feed, to love More. “

Vail underlined the Facebook post with a red heart emoji, followed by the hashtags “phoenixrising” and “pieranch”. She could not be reached on Friday evening to comment.

The destroyed building marks just one of dozen of buildings destroyed by the CZU Lightning Complex, which burned 57,000 acres in Santa Cruz and San Mateo counties. According to Cal Fire, it was 2% included as of Friday night. The complex had destroyed 97 buildings and threatened a further 24,323 buildings as of Friday evening.

In June, Mona Urbina, Pie Ranch’s culinary program manager, told The Chronicle that the farm had weathered the coronavirus pandemic. The farm is known for its large organic farms on Highway 1 and for its youth education program.

Around 77,000 people were evacuated in response to the CZU lightning complex, Cal Fire said.

Lauren Hernández is a contributor to the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: lauren.hernandez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ByLHernandez

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