A mass evacuation of around 90,000 people was ordered near a Northern California wildfire on Saturday.
It came as the state’s largest utility, Pacific Gas & Electric, began power shut-offs to an estimated 2.4 million people.
The new evacuation order encompasses a huge swath of wine country stretching from the inland community of Healdsburg west through the Russian River Valley and to Bodega Bay on the coast, Sonoma County Sheriff Mark Essick said.
An even broader area is under a warning for residents to get ready to leave at a moment’s notice.
Some gusts this weekend might reach 75 mph or higher as part of a ‘historic’ wind event, the National Weather Service said.
The winds could lead to ‘erratic fire behavior’ and send embers miles ahead of the main blaze, warned the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
And the severe gusts expected early Sunday could push the fire miles ahead of the main blaze that’s chewed through more than 40 square miles of dry brush and timber, Cal Fire says.
Two people evacuate Redwood Retreats, a residential care facility in Santa Rosa on Saturday. About 90,000 residents were ordered to evacuate towns near a massive Northern California wildfire Saturday, and the state’s largest utility began power shut-offs for an estimated 2.35 million people due to forecasts of severe winds and extreme fire danger
Flames from the Kincade Fire consume Soda Rock Winery on Sunday. Two previous blackouts in recent weeks were carried out amid concern that gusty winds could disrupt or knock down power lines and spark devastating wildfires
Ambulances arrive at Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital to evacuate patients in Santa Rosa. Pacific Gas & Electric said a new wave of blackouts started Saturday evening, affecting about 940,000 homes and businesses in 38 counties for 48 hours or longer. The city of San Francisco was not in line for a blackout; shut-offs were ordered for most of the rest of the San Francisco Bay Area, the wine country to the north and the Sierra foothills
The new evacuation order encompasses a huge swath of wine country stretching from the inland community of Healdsburg west through the Russian River Valley and to Bodega Bay on the coast, Sonoma County Sheriff Mark Essick said. An even broader area is under a warning for residents to get ready to leave at a moment’s notice
Pacific Gas & Electric said a new wave of blackouts started Saturday evening, affecting about 940,000 homes and businesses in 38 counties for 48 hours or longer.
The city of San Francisco was not in line for a blackout; shut-offs were ordered for most of the rest of the San Francisco Bay Area, the wine country to the north and the Sierra foothills.
Two previous blackouts in recent weeks were carried out amid concern that gusty winds could disrupt or knock down power lines and spark devastating wildfires.
Gov. Gavin Newsom said Saturday: ‘The next 72 hours is going to be challenging. I can sugarcoat it, but I’m not.’
National Weather Service meteorologist Drew Peterson told The LA Times: ‘I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw gusts between 80 and 85 mph.
‘Hopefully, [firefighters] can make some progress. We’ll most likely see the fire spreading once again.’
A fire spokesman added: ‘If we look at the past three years, all of the large and damaging fires have occurred at this time of the year during an offshore wind event, particularly during red-flag warnings.
‘It has us highly concerned that the vulnerable areas of California could see some explosive fires.’
At an evening briefing, Sonoma County Sheriff Essick pleaded with residents in the evacuation zone to get out immediately, citing the 24 lives lost when a wildfire swept through the region two years ago.
‘I’m seeing people reporting that they’re going to stay and fight this fire,’ Essick said at an evening briefing. ‘You cannot fight this. Please evacuate.’
Fire explodes out of the Soda Rock Winery as it burns during the Kincade fire as flames race through Healdsburg on Sunday
Stars can be seen in the sky as electricity in a neighborhood is turned off during a Pacific Gas & Electric outage in Walnut Creek on Saturday. A Northern California blaze forced evacuation orders and warnings for nearly all of Sonoma County stretching to the coast, with forecasts of strong winds prompting officials to start cutting electricity for millions of people in an effort to prevent more fires
Street lights have no electricity during a Pacific Gas & Electric outage in Lafayette on Saturday. Pacific Gas & Electric said a new wave of blackouts started Saturday evening, affecting about 940,000 homes and businesses in 38 counties for 48 hours or longer. The city of San Francisco was not in line for a blackout; shut-offs were ordered for most of the rest of the San Francisco Bay Area, the wine country to the north and the Sierra foothills
The wind event will peak early Sunday and is likely to be the strongest in several years, said PG&E meteorologist Scott Strenfel.
‘It’s likely that many trees will fall, branches will break,’ raising the risk of damage to utility infrastructure, Strenfesl said at a Saturday evening briefing. Relative humidity will dip into single digits, he said.
PG&E’s shut-off order came as firefighters battled fires in Northern and Southern California.
A wildfire Thursday destroyed 18 structures in the Santa Clarita area north of Los Angeles and led to evacuation orders for up to 50,000 residents, although nearly all were allowed back home after Santa Ana winds began to ease.
Sheriff’s officials said human remains were found within the wide burn area, but it’s too soon to know if the death is connected to the blaze.
To the north, firefighters raced to make progress against a blaze near Geyserville in Sonoma County before ferocious ‘diablo winds’ returned. The Kincade fire had burned 77 buildings, including 31 homes, and swept through more than 40 square miles of the wine-growing region. It was just 10% contained by Saturday evening.
A firefighter and two civilians were injured when they were overwhelmed by flames as they tried to evacuate from approaching flames, authorities said.
Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital started evacuating roughly 101 patients Saturday night and bringing them to other facilities, according to a Sutter Health statement.
Several thousand people living in small communities in neighboring Lake County were warned to be ready to evacuate if an order is given. The area was the scene of a 2015 wildfire that killed four people and burned nearly 2,000 homes and other buildings.
No cause has been determined for any of the current fires, but PG&E said a 230,000-volt transmission line near Geyserville had malfunctioned minutes before that fire erupted Wednesday night.
The utility acknowledged that the discovery of the tower malfunction had prompted a change in its strategy.
The possible link between the wine country fire and a PG&E transmission line contained grim parallels to a catastrophic fire last year that tore through the town of Paradise, killing 85 people and destroying thousands of homes in the deadliest U.S. fire in a century.
State officials concluded that fire was sparked by a PG&E transmission line.
Flames from the Kincade Fire consume Soda Rock Winery on Sunday. A wildfire Thursday destroyed 18 structures in the Santa Clarita area north of Los Angeles. To the north, firefighters raced to make progress against a blaze near Geyserville in Sonoma County before ferocious ‘diablo winds’ returned. The Kincade fire had burned 77 buildings, including 31 homes, and swept through more than 40 square miles of the wine-growing region
Flames shoot out a window as the Soda Rock Winery burns during the Kincade fire on Sunday. Powerful winds are fanning wildfires in northern California in ‘potentially historic fire’ conditions, authorities said
The wind driven Kincade fire burns near the town of Healdsburg. No cause has been determined for any of the current fires, but PG&E said a 230,000-volt transmission line near Geyserville had malfunctioned minutes before that fire erupted Wednesday night
Across the border, Mexican authorities said three people have died in wind-whipped wildfires in the northwestern state of Baja California.
Mexico’s civil defense agency said Friday that fires near Tecate, near Tijuana and between the coastal towns of Rosarito and Ensenada had forced 1,645 people to evacuate their homes.
In Marin County, just north of San Francisco, the sheriff’s office warned that a power shut-off would likely knock out some traffic lights. Intersections with inoperable lights should be treated as a four-way stop, the office said.
Even before the new blackout order, the University of California, Berkeley announced it was canceling all Saturday afternoon classes, as well as other indoor events and activities scheduled through Sunday.
A Florida utility, Florida Power & Light, announced it was sending 100 line workers and support staff to help PG&E restore power to areas with outages caused by the wildfires.