A wildfire was raging outside, but inside the evacuation centers there were risks, too. Natalie Lyons and Craig Phillips had to make a decision Thursday morning as they sat in their ash-coated Toyota Tundra under the smoky orange sky in Santa Cruz. After fleeing the small town of Felton on Wednesday as a series of wildfires continued to burn along the Central Coast of California, they sought refuge at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium, an evacuation site, but the building was full — and Ms. Lyons was scared of contracting the coronavirus in an enclosed, indoor space. “There’s some people coughing, their masks are hanging down,” said Ms. Lyons, 54, who said she had lung problems. “I’d rather sleep in my car than end up in a hospital bed.”

So that is exactly what the couple did. Their car served as a makeshift bed across the street from the auditorium, and Ms. Lyons tried to get comfortable in the back seat with their Chihuahua-terrier mix and shellshocked cat. “I hardly got any sleep,” she said.

More than 25,000 people have been forced to evacuate from the rural areas of San Mateo and Santa Cruz Counties, Cal Fire said, and many have struggled to find a place to go, especially with the pandemic still limiting indoor gatherings.

At least five hotels in Santa Cruz said they were filled to capacity on Wednesday night as evacuees sought refuge from the smoke outside. And midday Thursday, Santa Cruz County urged tourists and other visitors to leave so displaced residents could find a bed to sleep in. Even places set up specifically to house evacuees were forced to turn people away because of the need for social distancing, which Jessi Bond, the Civic Auditorium supervisor, called “heartbreaking.”

“There’s really two emergencies happening and we need to address both,” she said.

Posted in: USA