This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/sep/28/california-wine-country-fire-forces-evacuation-of-hospital
The article has changed 6 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
Version 1 | Version 2 |
---|---|
California fires: thousands flee destructive wildfires in wine country | |
(about 7 hours later) | |
Wind-driven fires erupt in Napa-Sonoma and Shasta county and force hasty evacuations of thousands of people | |
California firefighters battled destructive new wildfires in the wine country north of San Francisco on Monday, as strong winds fanned flames in the already badly scorched state. | |
The new fires erupted on Sunday in the famed Napa-Sonoma wine region and in far northern California’s Shasta county, forcing the hasty evacuations of thousands of people. | |
The Glass fire engulfed the Chateau Boswell Winery and the Black Rock Inn in St Helena and multiple homes in the city of Santa Rosa, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Residents of a senior home were among those evacuated. | |
On Sunday, the fire came within a mile of the Adventist Health St Helena hospital, forcing the evacuation of 55 patients. | |
The wine country fire had burned 17 sq miles as of early Monday, according to the California department of forestry and fire protection, or Cal Fire. | |
The wine country has been scarred by terrible fires in recent years, including the 2017 Tubbs fire that killed 22 people and destroyed more than 5,600 homes and other buildings. | |
Numerous studies have linked more frequent and extreme wildfires in recent years to the climate crisis, with drier and hotter conditions leaving leaving a landscape that’s tinder-dry and more prone to fire. California wildfires have scorched more than 3.7m acres in the first nine months of 2020, far exceeding any single year in state history, killing 26 people and destroying more than 7,000 structures. | |
The Pacific Gas and Electric Company on Sunday temporarily halted power to transmission lines in parts of 16 counties across northern and central California to guard against greater wildfire risks in hot, windy and dry weather. | |
In Shasta county, the Zogg fire had scorched 7,000 acres by Monday morning and forced evacuations. | |
The causes of both fires were under investigation. | |
Fire worries were also developing across southern California although it was unclear how strong predicted Santa Ana winds would be. Heat and extreme dryness were expected to be problematic nonetheless. | |
Back in the wine country, all 55 patients in the Adventist Health St Helena hospital were safely evacuated by ambulance and helicopter over the course of five hours on Sunday, hospital spokeswoman Linda Williams said. | |
“We had ambulances lined up from all over the Bay Area,” Williams said, adding that although smoke shrouded the facility, the skies above were clear enough for helicopters. | “We had ambulances lined up from all over the Bay Area,” Williams said, adding that although smoke shrouded the facility, the skies above were clear enough for helicopters. |
It was the second wildfire-related evacuation of the 151-bed hospital in a month, after a huge cluster of lightning-sparked blazes that swept several counties north of the San Francisco Bay in August. | |
The blaze erupted midway through the traditional grape-harvesting period in the Napa Valley. The area’s 475 wineries account for 4% of the state’s total annual grape harvest but half of the retail value of all California wines sold, according to the Napa Valley Vintners trade group. | |
Of Napa’s 16 wine-growing districts, or sub-appellations, the Howell Mountain area may have faced the greatest threat, said Lisa Covey, a spokeswoman for Hall Family Wines, which kept open during the day all its three tasting rooms in the county. | Of Napa’s 16 wine-growing districts, or sub-appellations, the Howell Mountain area may have faced the greatest threat, said Lisa Covey, a spokeswoman for Hall Family Wines, which kept open during the day all its three tasting rooms in the county. |
Susan Krausz, co-owner of Arkenstone Estate Vineyards in the Howell Mountain community of Angwin, said it would take days or weeks to assess the impact of the latest blaze. | |
“Most people have harvested,” she said, but added: “Any time’s a bad time for a fire.” | |