Cal Fire battles LNU Lightning Complex, says be ‘prepared to leave’ as storms roll in
Cal Fire officials battling the second-largest wildfire in California history were preparing for another round of fire starts Sunday, despite making headway on the blaze.
The LNU Lightning Complex, a series of fires sparked by thunderstorms Monday, has since grown to its current sprawl of 341,243 acres burning in Napa, Sonoma, Solano and Yolo counties.
Recent progress had firefighters optimistic. The Meyers Fire, the smallest blaze making up the LNU Lightning Complex at 2,360 acres north of Jenner, reached 70% containment Sunday.
“We’re feeling good about what’s happening over on the Meyers Fire,” said Sean Kavanaugh, Cal Fire incident commander.
Progress on the Walbridge Fire, though slow, was coming along. The wildfire started just west of Healdsburg and reached 5% containment by Sunday. The 51,072-acre has posed a challenge to firefighters, as it lies along rugged terrain, making it difficult for personnel to mount an attack. The fire and its merged cousin, the Stewarts Fire, are still threatening homes in the Forestville and Rio Nido areas northwest of Santa Rosa.
Meanwhile, the Hennessy Fire, burning mostly in Napa County, is still the largest in the complex. It charred 287,811 acres and was 17% contained as of Sunday morning. It grew from 256,102 acres Friday night.
Cal Fire officials said Sunday morning that the historically-large LNU Lightning Complex is the top priority for both in-state and out-of-state fire support, which continues to flow into the fire zone.
The number of personnel assigned to the LNU complex more than doubled from 580 to over 1,400 Friday and nearly 200 fire engines were on the scene, fire officials said. Even more support poured in Sunday to the state’s top priority wildfire incident, with more than 1,700 personnel on scene.
With extra hands came some encouraging announcements on Saturday. Fire officials lifted all evacuations in Solano and Yolo counties, but by Sunday, the fire was moving eastward, causing traffic to be intermittently held on Highway 16 near Rumsey, just a few miles from Cache Creek Casino. Several evacuation orders are still in place in rural areas of Sonoma, Napa and Lake counties, with more than 30,000 homes threatened by flames. In all, 845 structures have been destroyed and another 231 have been damaged by the fire. Five people have been killed in the complex — three in Napa County, one in Solano County and one Pacific Gas and Electric Co. troubleman who died while responding to a fire-related outage in Vacaville.
On Sunday, Cal Fire officials voiced concern over the incoming shift in weather patterns that currently poses a risk of starting even more wildfires throughout California amid an already active fire season.
During a Sunday news conference, as thunderstorms loomed on the horizon, Kavanaugh was cautious in his assessment of the situation.
“We are definitely far from getting these fires handled,” he said.
The forecast in Sacramento
The Sacramento office of the National Weather Service issued a red flag warning over the weekend, set to last through Monday night, indicating an extreme risk of fire danger.
Thunderstorms with little or no rain, much like the storms responsible for starting the LNU Lightning Complex, are expected to soon roll in over Northern California. Nearly the entire northern half of the state is included in the red flag warning, as far south as Turlock and north up to the Oregon border.
Remnants of Hurricane Genevieve, which previously passed over Baja California, will be heading over the Valley, causing unpredictable weather with high chances for new fires to start. Temperatures, though lower than this month’s recent heat wave, will still hit triple digits in some areas. Sacramento was expected to hit 100 degrees, while Redding was forecast for 99 degrees.
“The winds will generally be light, however, erratic, gusty winds of up to 65 miles per hour may occur,” Jeremy Rahn, a Cal Fire spokesman, said on Sunday. “This dry lightning will likely hamper efforts to contain the current fires and may spark new fires.”
Fire officials warned residents of fire-prone areas to be ready to move.
“Any lightning that comes through ... it’s going to likely result in additional fires,” LNU Cal Fire unit chief Shana Jones said on Sunday. “I can’t stress enough the importance of being prepared to leave.”
Smoke throughout region
Even those areas of Northern California not facing off with massive wildfires have blanketed in smoke for a week now.
Since Tuesday, air quality in the Sacramento region has consistently been labeled above healthy levels, including an “unhealthy” reading of 158 in the county Sunday.
The air quality index used by the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District showed levels of smoke-related pollutants in the air were at very unhealthy levels on Thursday, and unhealthy levels in the days following.
The City of Sacramento, in response, opened up two so-called “cleaner-air centers” this weekend for the duration of the wildfires to provide residents without accommodation a place to breathe easier.
They are at the Tsakopoulos Library Galleria in downtown Sacramento and the Hagginwood Community Center near Del Paso Heights and will be open between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. The sites previously served as city cooling centers during the recent heat wave.
This story was originally published August 23, 2020 at 2:40 PM with the headline "Cal Fire battles LNU Lightning Complex, says be ‘prepared to leave’ as storms roll in."
