Firefighters prepare for windy battle Tuesday, as Sonoma County evacuees wait and watch
Stay up to date on the wildfires with breaking news alerts. Sign up here.
Crews battling the Kincade Fire prepared for another tricky day in the hills of east Sonoma County on Tuesday as more high-speed winds are expected to blow across the north state, re-energizing the now five-day-old wildfire.
The fire, which started Wednesday near Geyserville, is the largest in California this year. It has burned through 115 square miles on the northwestern edge of California’s premier wine region as of Monday evening, and destroyed 123 structures, including 57 houses and a winery whose stone facade dates to 1869.
The fire perimeter was 15 percent contained as of 6:30 p.m. Monday, up from 5 percent in the morning. Cal Fire computer modeling projects the fire may be fully contained by Nov. 7.
“Kincade remains the most vexing and challenging .... with the winds that are going to come back through …” Gov. Gavin Newsom told the media during a Monday evening visit with firefighters at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds.
Newsom said the towns of Healdsburg and Windsor continue to be under threat at the fire’s western edge, although firefighters were able to quell hot spots around those cities Monday during lighter winds.
Fire officials issued an evacuation warning Monday evening on the fire’s east flank for residents in the Middletown area in Lake County, where many houses were destroyed by the 2015 Valley Fire. Officials said they also are preparing for the possibility the fire could move toward Calistoga at the north end of the Napa Valley.
Two firefighters were burned Sunday, one seriously. That firefighter was in stable condition Monday night, Cal Fire officials said.
The National Weather Service has issued another red flag warning for Tuesday morning, predicting wind gusts as high as 60 mph. The warning is due to expire Wednesday afternoon.
This is the second time in three years that major wildfires have hit the state’s signature wine region. The historic Soda Rock Winery in Healdsburg was destroyed over the weekend. Owner Ken Wilson said Monday he’s unsure whether he’ll rebuild.
“It had a lot of heart and soul in that building,” he said of a recent restoration. “Five years of my life just went up in smoke.”
For many, the Kincade Fire brought back painful memories of the October 2017 fires, which destroyed several wineries, including the Paradise Ridge Winery in Santa Rosa.
“It’s definitely déjà vu for a lot of people,” said co-owner Rene Byck. He has rebuilt and had planned to reopen in five weeks. “We’ll see if these fires affect that.”
Fire season not over yet
State fire officials on Monday warned that California’s fire season is not yet done, even as October comes to an end.
Two years ago, the massive Thomas Fire in Santa Barbara burned through December into January. The Camp Fire, which is the worst wildfire in state history, struck in November of last year when Pacific Gas and Electric Co. equipment failed in high winds, destroying the Butte County town of Paradise, leveling 18,000 buildings and killing 85 residents.
“We are nowhere near done with this,” Cal Fire Chief Thom Porter said. “We are going to need to have widespread statewide rain before this is over. We are poised to continue this.”
He called for the public’s confidence. “We are fully capable and ready to respond to all of the state’s fire emergencies plus going through this part of the season. I want you to feel very confident that the fire service system and emergency response system is ready for California’s emergencies going into the rest of this fire season.”
PG&E power outages
Meanwhile, 600,000 PG&E customers in north and central California braced for yet another round of power outages orchestrated by the utility Tuesday, Wednesday and perhaps longer this week with forecasts of more high winds.
PG&E shut power to nearly 1 million customers over the weekend and had only slowly begun to bring those customers back online Monday evening.
The company has it plans another electricity shutdown at 8 a.m. in 29 counties, including Sonoma County.
Tuesday’s blackout would be the third in less than a week called by PG&E, which is under intense pressure to prevent more wildfires after the disasters of 2017 and 2018. The company has told regulators that a faulty transmission line was discovered near the spot where the Kincade Fire ignited last week.
This story was originally published October 28, 2019 at 7:33 PM.