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New Evacuations Ordered as Two Wildfires Erupt in Northern California New Evacuations Ordered as 2 Wildfires Erupt in Northern California
(about 5 hours later)
Two fast-moving wildfires, having burned more than 26,000 acres in Northern California since they began on Sunday, prompted new evacuation orders for thousands of people as the year’s grueling fire season wore on. LOS ANGELES — California’s famed wine country, already suffering an economic blow brought on by the coronavirus pandemic and covered in smoke for weeks, is on fire again.
The Zogg Fire in Shasta County and the Glass Fire in Napa County burned about 15,000 and 11,000 acres as of Monday morning, according to the state fire agency, Cal Fire. In nearby Sonoma County, where fires were burning uncontained on Sunday night, there were at least 11 evacuation zones. With two new wildfires burning out of control, the losses were mounting on Monday. The famous Chateau Boswell winery was gone, a community of tiny homes for homeless people burned, and an untold number of houses were feared lost.
On Monday morning, Cal Fire said that there was an “immediate threat to life” in some areas, and that the authorities in Napa and Sonoma had opened evacuation centers. In Napa alone, more than 5,000 people were ordered to evacuate, and 3,000 more were placed under an evacuation warning, said Janet Upton, a spokeswoman for the county. For residents, still haunted by fires that tore through the area three years ago, destroying thousands of homes and killing dozens of people, the wildfires that exploded on Sunday were as familiar as they were terrifying.
The Napa County Sheriff’s Office also warned people to “evacuate immediately.” On Twitter on Sunday night, the office shared a video of a deputy evacuating as fires incinerated trees, embers flew into the air and smoke enveloped a roadway. “We’ve evacuated and we are watching the news and watching my district burn again,” Susan Gorin, a Sonoma County supervisor, said Monday morning from a hotel in Novato where she had evacuated to. “I fear that it’s heading into those areas that lost homes and were rebuilt, and I fear they will burn again.”
The new burst of fires comes as the West Coast struggles to recover from one of the worst seasons on record. Wildfires this year have left more than 25 people dead, destroyed more than 7,000 structures, and scorched more than five million acres in California, Oregon and Washington. State leaders and experts have linked the devastating fire season to climate change, saying it is part of a long-term trend of more frequent and disastrous blazes in the West. The two fast-moving blazes, the Zogg Fire in Shasta County and the Glass Fire in Napa and Sonoma Counties, have already burned more than 26,000 acres, prompting new evacuation orders for thousands of people as the year’s grueling wildfire season wore on.
And meteorologists warned of more fire-prone conditions this week, after repeated heat waves and weeks of windy weather this summer. On Monday morning, Cal Fire said two additional fires that started Sunday night had already merged with the Glass Fire. The new burst of fires comes as the West Coast struggles to recover from one of the worst seasons on record, even with months to go until the rainy season. Wildfires this year have left more than 25 people dead, destroyed more than 7,000 structures and scorched more than five million acres in California, Oregon and Washington. Experts have linked the devastating fire season to climate change, saying it is part of a long-term trend of more frequent and disastrous blazes in the West.
More than 1,000 firefighters and emergency personnel are battling the fires, Erick Hernandez, a code compliance officer for the Napa County Fire Department, said on Monday morning. In a news conference on Monday, Gov. Gavin Newsom of California said a “substantial” number of structures, including wineries, had been damaged. Speaking of the history of fires in the area, he said there was “a lot of consternation in and around that region that has been hit over and over and over again.”
“We don’t have any numbers on how many structures are destroyed or damaged,” Mr. Hernandez said, though he said more than 8,500 structures were threatened. “Some of the areas are difficult to get into because of the terrain.” He said if people did not feel safe, they should evacuate. In wine country, residents spoke of terrifying nighttime evacuations on Sunday as the flames bore down.
On Sunday, a hospital in Napa County, Adventist Health St. Helena, temporarily suspended services and evacuated all patients because of the Glass Fire, its president, Steven Herber, said. In the Oakmont area of Santa Rosa, residents of Los Guilicos Village, a community of tiny homes for formerly homeless people and those suffering from mental illness and substance abuse disorders, were forced to evacuate at about 9 p.m.
He added that 55 patients were transported to other hospitals and that family members were notified. The hospital said that its emergency department would not be accepting patients and that surgeries and tests would be postponed. Among them was Carmen Almejo, 53, who fled with her dog, a Chihuahua named Carmencita. All she brought was a sweatshirt for herself, a sweatshirt for her dog, some dog food and water.
“The safety and well-being of our patients and associates are our highest priority,” Mr. Herber said. “I was very scared,” she said from an evacuation center. “When we were going in the van, we could see the flames and it was scary. I’ve never been so scared in my life.”
In Santa Rosa, in Sonoma County, residents of the Oakmont Gardens residence for older people were evacuated by bus as another fire approached the city. As day broke on Monday, residents learned that much of the village had burned to the ground. Ms. Almejo said she spent the morning taking long walks with Carmencita to calm her nerves.
To the north in Shasta County, the Zogg Fire began early on Sunday and prompted mandatory evacuations in several areas, according to Cal Fire. It was not immediately clear how many residents and homes were part of the evacuation zone. Across the street from Los Guilicos Village on Sunday night, Oakmont Gardens, a senior assisted living center, was evacuating hundreds of residents, some in wheelchairs and others using walkers. “That was amazing that they got everyone out of there,” said Chris Grabill, who runs Los Guilicos Village. “There were vans and city buses filled with elderly, vulnerable people.”
Over the weekend, the National Weather Service placed the greater Bay Area under “a red flag warning” with dry and windy conditions and low humidity; the service extended the warning into Monday evening. At the CrossWalk Community Church in Napa, which was designated as an evacuation center, the line stretched out the door on Monday afternoon, as evacuees gathered under tents to seek shade from the near triple-digit temperatures.
“The erratic winds has created spot fires,” Mr. Hernandez said. For many residents, it was not even the first time they had to flee a fire this year. Kristi Horn, who works at Pacific Union College in Angwin, had to evacuate in August after a lightning siege sparked several fast-moving fires. This time, she had to pack up and leave around 5 a.m. Sunday.
A red flag warning is issued for weather that can result “in extreme fire behavior that will occur within 24 hours,” according to Cal Fire. “I keep joking I want to move to Florida because you still get coastal access to the beach and you have several days to plan for a hurricane,” Ms. Horn said. “For fires, you’re woken up in the middle of the night.”
The Weather Service also forecast wind gusts of up to 45 miles per hour and up to 50 miles per hour at higher elevations, raising concerns that weather conditions could fan small fires quickly into huge ones. Jennifer Rhodes, 68, said she left her home in Deer Park early Sunday morning after a neighbor knocked on her door.
As a precaution, the utility company Pacific Gas and Electric said it had shut off power on Sunday in portions of the North Valley and Northern and Central Sierra regions, affecting about 65,000 customers. Power was expected to be restored by the end of the day Monday. “I never unpacked from the last fire because they said the next three months was fire season,” said Ms. Rhodes, a retiree. She does not yet know if her home is still standing.
“Once the high winds subside Monday morning, PG&E will inspect the de-energized lines to ensure they were not damaged during the wind event, and then restore power,” the company said in a statement. “PG&E will safely restore power in stages as quickly as possible, with the goal of restoring power to nearly all customers who are safe to restore within 12 daylight hours after severe weather has passed.” A spokeswoman for Cal Fire, the state’s firefighting agency, said the cause of the Glass Fire in wine country had not been determined. But some residents reported hearing explosions just as the fire ignited, suggesting that the cause may have been propane tanks, said Michael Mann, chief executive of WineCountry Media, a tourism and e-commerce company.
More than 1.2 million acres have burned across Northern California after lightning strikes sparked hundreds of fires on Aug. 15, according to Cal Fire. Since the beginning of the year, more than 8,100 wildfires have burned more than 3.7 million acres. Everyone in his industry, he said, was scrambling on Monday to find out how much damage the fires had inflicted. “Most winery owners are trying to figure out if their properties are still there,” he said.
The 2020 fire season has also proved disastrous for Oregon and Washington State, burning another million acres across both states, destroying hundreds of homes and, for weeks, blanketing the West Coast in some of the most unhealthy air conditions in the world. Meteorologists warned of more fire-prone conditions this week, after repeated heat waves and weeks of windy weather this summer. Over the weekend, the National Weather Service placed the greater Bay Area under a “red flag warning” because of dry and windy conditions and low humidity; the service extended the warning into Monday evening.
Experts say that climate change has worsened the fires. Higher temperatures and drier conditions have made it easier for vegetation to burn, causing fires to become bigger, more intense and harder to extinguish. Lynne Tolmachoff, a spokeswoman for Cal Fire, said that about 8,500 homes, or 12,000 people, were under evacuation orders, and that about 1,500 firefighters were battling the blazes.
Historically, fire seasons in California began around June and July and lasted into October, a spokeswoman for Cal Fire, Cheryl Buliavac, said on Monday. But seasons have been growing longer. As a precaution, the utility company Pacific Gas and Electric said it had shut off power on Sunday in portions of the North Valley and Northern and Central Sierra regions, affecting about 65,000 customers. Power was expected to be restored by the end of the day Monday for the majority of customers.
“The last several years with the drought and lack of rainfall, we have had a very dry vegetation which is extremely receptive to burning so we have not been having that closure that we normally would have in the early fall,” she said. “It has been a year-round fire season.” Ms. Gorin, the county supervisor, was among those living in the areas under evacuation orders. But on Sunday night, well before the orders were issued, she saw the fire burning and started packing.
“I brought every photograph I could get my hands on,” she said, adding that she also brought with her jewelry and her computer.
“In general, people are exhausted,” said Ms. Gorin, who lives in Santa Rosa’s Oakmont neighborhood and lost her home in the 2017 fires. “They are tired of smoke. We’ve had smoke overlaying us for the last three weeks, and the skies are just beginning to clear.”
She said she has been living in a rented house while her home was being rebuilt, and she feared she might lose it again. She also feared for her constituents, and said many probably lost their homes on Sunday night. But it will likely be days until officials will be able to reach the area and survey the damage, she said.
Historically, fire seasons in California began around June and July and lasted into October. But the seasons have been growing longer.
“The last several years with the drought and lack of rainfall, we have had a very dry vegetation which is extremely receptive to burning, so we have not been having that closure that we normally would have in early fall,” Cheryl Buliavac, a spokeswoman at Cal Fire, said. “It’s been a year-round fire season.’
In wine country, officials have improved their alert system for residents in danger, and have positioned cameras on mountaintops to detect fires earlier.
“The information flow is better, but the sense of dread is not,” Lynda Hopkins, a Sonoma County supervisor, said.
On Monday, she said, a familiar sense of anxiety had set in. “It’s just numbing at this point, the number of fires up here. What’s eerie about this is it feels so much like 2017.”
Tim Arango reported from Los Angeles, Johnny Diaz from Miami, and Carly Stern from Napa, Calif.