California wildfires: Glass Fire has now destroyed 220 homes in Napa-Sonoma area
The Glass Fire in the Napa-Sonoma region known as Wine Country continued “very active” behavior overnight, still burning with minimal containment as red flag weather conditions persist, Cal Fire said Friday morning.
The blaze has destroyed at least 293 homes — 173 in Napa County and 120 in Sonoma County — and hundreds of other structures, Cal Fire said Friday evening. Iconic wineries, the renowned Restaurant at Meadowood and scores of other businesses have also been either destroyed or severely damaged by the fire.
The Glass Fire is reported at 61,150 acres, or about 95 square miles, with 8% containment, according to Cal Fire’s 7 p.m. situation report. The incident started as a cluster of multiple fires that broke out early Sunday morning in Napa Valley, then quickly merged and began to rage west toward Santa Rosa, driven by powerful winds later that day.
“Today, light winds allowed fire behavior to be driven by fuels and topography,” according to Cal Fire’s Friday evening update. “Fire growth is occurring from short, intense runs up slopes and drainages, with short range spotting. Active fire behavior continues to threaten control lines.”
Cal Fire says the Glass Fire is still threatening nearly 29,000 additional structures. All of the city of Calistoga and town of Angwin remain evacuated, along with a few neighborhoods on the east side of Santa Rosa, within city limits. Additional mandatory orders are in effect across unincorporated areas of Napa and Sonoma counties.
In all, tens of thousands remain displaced in the two counties, and more are subject to evacuation warnings — meaning they should be packed up and ready to leave at a moment’s notice.
Crews totaling more than 2,600 fire personnel are battling tough terrain, above-average temperatures, dry conditions, downed trees and gusty winds in the region as they work to rein in the wildfire.
The National Weather Service has a red flag warning in place for portions of the Bay Area, including the North Bay where the Glass Fire is burning, through 6 a.m. Saturday.
Wind conditions during the red flag warning are expected to peak late Friday, the NWS Bay Area office says, though the gustiest winds, at around 30 mph, are predicted to stay isolated at higher elevations. Gusts that resulted in the Glass Fire’s dangerous sprint Sunday and Monday well exceeded 30 mph.
On Friday afternoon, Cal Fire officials announced evacuation orders were reduced to evacuation warnings for some areas within Santa Rosa outside the burn areas. Evacuation orders were reduced to warnings for some unincorporated areas of Sonoma County.
Updates to evacuation information are posted to the Nixle pages for the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office, Napa County Office of Emergency Services, Santa Rosa Police Department and the city of Calistoga, as well as to those entities’ and Cal Fire’s social media pages, as soon as they are released.
No injuries or fatalities have been reported in connection to the Glass Fire.
Zogg Fire: Good progress, some evacuations lifted
Over 1,800 firefighters assigned to the Zogg Fire, a 56,000-acre wildfire that ignited Sunday several miles southwest of Redding, is at 56% containment after more successful operations Thursday night, Cal Fire’s Shasta-Trinity Unit said Friday.
Authorities have confirmed four civilian deaths from the fire, which started Sunday afternoon near the towns of Igo and Ono, exploding in size within a few hours. Cal Fire said on Friday evening the fire has destroyed 170 structures, and but only 101 remained threatened. That was a significant drop from Friday morning, when Cal Fire officials said flames were threatening more than 1,500 structures.
Firefighters battling the Zogg Fire “had another successful day that increased containment” with minimal growth in size, according to a Cal Fire Friday evening incident update.
Shasta County authorities on Friday morning lifted several evacuation orders, including for the community of Platina and the area along Gas Point and Clear Creek roads. Other orders and warnings near those areas remain in place, including a mandatory order east of Highway 36 at Platina Road.
August Complex approaching 1 million acres
California’s largest wildfire incident ever, the August Complex continues to burn and grow in and near Mendocino, Shasta-Trinity and Six Rivers national forests.
A U.S. Forest Service incident report Friday morning referred to Sunday and Monday as a “wind-driven firestorm” that flared up the blaze, which was sparked by lightning on Aug. 17.
The fire cluster has grown to an astonishing 970,930 acres — more than 1,500 square miles — with containment lines around just 55% of the perimeter, the Forest Service said Friday evening.
Its reported size continues to grow on a daily basis, and it could conceivably reach 1 million acres within days. No other fire in state history has reached 500,000 acres.
The massive wildfire is responsible for large portions of the smoke-filled skies and unhealthy air quality conditions that have plagued Northern California for the past month and a half.
Most of the August Complex area is forested or otherwise sparsely populated, but the fire has prompted evacuation orders in parts of Trinity and Humboldt counties, along with road closures.
Climate change and California wildfires
Wildfires have always been part of life in California. The past four years have brought some of the most destructive and deadliest wildfires in the state’s modern history.
Nearly 180 people have lost their lives since 2017. More than 41,000 structures have been destroyed and nearly 7 million acres have burned. That’s roughly the size of Massachusetts.
So far this year, 30 people have died, according to Cal Fire.
Meanwhile, this year’s August was the hottest on record in California. A rare series of lightning storms sparked a series of fires, including the August Complex that has burned nearly 1 million acres, making it by far the largest wildfire in California’s recorded history.
Our climate is becoming more severe.
The 2017 wildfire season occurred during the second-hottest year on record in California and included a devastating string of fires in October that killed 44 people and destroyed nearly 9,000 buildings in Napa, Lake, Sonoma, Mendocino, Butte and Solano counties.
The following year was the most destructive and deadliest for wildfires in the state’s history. It included the Camp Fire, which destroyed the town of Paradise and killed 85 people, and the enormous Mendocino Complex.
This story was originally published October 2, 2020 at 10:08 AM.
