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What You Need to Know: Bay Area Lightning Fires

KQED
Published August 19, 2020 at 6:07 PM PDT

Updated 8:45 a.m. Thursday

A series of wildfires sparked by lightning over the weekend has spread rapidly across wide stretches of the outer Bay Area, as fire crews contend with high winds, dry air and triple-digit temperatures amid a nearly week-long heat wave. By early Thursday, tens of thousands of residents from the North Bay to the Peninsula were ordered to evacuate in the face of three major groupings — or complexes — of fires blazing across the region.

This post will be updated when new information is made available. Here’s the latest on the three fire complexes:

LNU Complex SCU Complex CZU Complex

LNU Lightning Complex

24-hour information line: 707-967-4207

Cal Fire incident information page

Cal Fire LNU Twitter Feed

The LNU complex of fires, ignited by a barrage of lightning strikes in Napa early Monday morning, consists of seven separate blazes burning in five different counties — including Sonoma, Napa, Solano and small sections of Yolo and Lake counties, Cal Fire officials said.

Acreage and containment

Together, the fires had burned an estimated 131,000 acres as of Thursday morning, scorching another 6,900 acres overnight. The fire remains 0% contained.

Casualties and damage update

At least 105 structures have been destroyed, 70 others damaged and 30,500 more are under threat. There have been four civilian injuries, Cal Fire said. A PG&E worker was killed in the course of assisting fire efforts near Vacaville on Wednesday. The worker, whose name was not released, was clearing downed electrical infrastructure to make the Gates Canyon area safe for first responders. He was found unresponsive in his vehicle, and was pronounced dead at a local hospital, Cal Fire said.

There have been no reported civilian casualties.

Evacuation orders and emergency shelters

Firefighters and law enforcement officials are asking people in impacted areas to closely follow evacuation orders. A “high-low” siren will be used to alert residents it is time to leave, Cal Fire said.

Because of the direction of the winds, areas to the south of active fires are of most concern, and most liable to be ordered to evacuate, officials said.

Solano County

For questions related to the LNU Lightning Fire evacuations in Solano County, call 707-784-1634 or 707-784-1635. Updated evacuation information can also be found on the Solano County Sheriff’s Twitter feed. See a map of evacuation orders here.

Napa County:

Evacuation orders in Napa County can be found at the county website here. But,  for the most up-to-date information, county officials recommend residents reach out to the Cal Fire public information line at (707) 967-4207.

Sonoma County:

See updated county evacuation information here and an evacuation map here.

Evacuation centers and animal shelters

Solano County

Padan School: 200 Padan School Rd., Vacaville Fairmont School at 1355 Marshall Rd., Vacaville Sierra Vista School at 301 Bel Air Dr., Vacaville. Joseph Nelson Community Center at 611 Village Dr., Suisun. Ulatis Community Center at 1000 Ulatis Drive and McBride Senior Center at 91 Town Square Place. Will C. Wood High School at 998 Marshall Rd, Vacaville. Lambrecht Fields – Petersen Road, Suisun City Rodriguez High School, Fairfield Fairfield High School

Animal shelters:

Guru Nanak Sikh Temple at 2948 Rockville Rd. in Fairfield will be open at for service animals only. Large animals can be taken to the Solano County Fairgrounds in Vallejo. Small pets can be taken to the Solano County Animal Shelter 2510 Claybank Rd.

Napa County

Evacuation centers:

Crosswalk Community Church at 2590 First Street in Napa

Animal shelters:

Napa County Animal Shelter at 942 Hartle Court in Napa

Sonoma County

Evacuation centers:

Bodega Bay: Westside Park at 2400 Westshore Road Healdsburg: Vets Memorial Beach at 13839 Old Redwood Highway Santa Rosa: A Place to Play at 2375 West 3rd Street and Schopflin Fields at 4351 Old Redwood Highway Sebastopol: Ragle Ranch at 500 Ragle Road

Animal Shelters:

The Sonoma County Fairgrounds is sheltering large animals.

Additional useful links with updated info

Cal Fire Sonoma-Napa-Lake Unit Cal Fire Sonoma-Napa-Lake Unit Solano County Sheriff’s Department Vacaville Fire District Fairfield Police Department Marin County Fire Sign up for Nixle Alerts for Solano County, Sonoma County, Napa County

SCU Complex

Information line: 669-247-7431

Cal Fire incident information page

Updated information also available here.

Cal Fire update: The SCU Lightning Complex is approximately 20 separate fires broken into three zones; the Canyon Zone, the Calaveras Zone and the Deer Zone. The fires continue to burn in steep, rugged terrain in multiple locations across Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa, San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties.

Some of the terrain has little to no fire history with ample fuel build up, conducive to extreme fire growth. Overnight, poor humidity recovery was observed again as crews continued to focus on structure defense, Cal Fire said.

Acreage and containment

As of Thursday at 8 a.m., the SCU Complex was 137,475 acres – a growth of roughly 35,000 acres overnight. The fire is 5% contained, Cal Fire reported.

Casualties and damage update

No structures had been damaged or destroyed as of Thursday morning, but nearly 6,200 structures are now threatened by the fires. Two firefighters have been injured.

Evacuation orders and emergency shelters

Santa Clara County

Santa Clara County residents can find information on evacuations here, and a map here. The county has also established a hotline for residents under evacuation orders at (408) 808-7778.

Alameda County

Residents can find evacuation information on Cal Fire’s incident site, and by signing up for Nixle alerts here.

Contra Costa County

Residents can check the county’s Community Warning System for new alerts, and sign up for Nixle alerts here.

Evacuation Center: Creekside Middle School 535 Peregrine Dr. Patterson, CA 94363

Additional useful links with updated info

Cal Fire on social media: Twitter account and Facebook page Alameda County: Cal Fire SCU Unit Contra Costa County: Cal Fire SCU Unit Sign up for Nixle Alerts for Santa Clara County, Alameda County, Contra Costa County

CZU Lightning Complex

Cal Fire information line: 831-335-6717

Cal Fire incident information page

Acreage and containment

The CZU fire had burned 40,000 acres by early Thursday – growing an additional 30,000 acres since Wednesday afternoon. It is still 0% contained. The fire became even more active overnight, with firefighters seeing “significant burning conditions that are unprecedented and unseen by veteran firefighters,” Cal Fire officials said in a 6 a.m. press briefing.

Casualties and damage update

Cal Fire said 20 structures have been confirmed to have been destroyed. However, the fire is threatening 8,600 structures, according to Cal Fire.

There have been no listed casualties from the CZU complex fire, but Cal Fire has confirmed three injuries among first responders.

Evacuation orders and emergency shelters

It was another long night for residents of the Santa Cruz mountains, as all areas of Ben Lomond and Lompico were ordered to evacuate. At 8 a.m. Thursday, all areas of Felton were ordered to evacuate. A total of roughly 25,000 people have now been ordered to evacuate, officials said.

San Mateo County

Evacuation updates in San Mateo County can be found at the SMC Wildfire Response page here, and via the county’s Twitter account.

Santa Cruz County

Santa Cruz County residents can find a map, and list of current evacuation orders here, and can sign up for email alerts here.

Emergency shelters

San Mateo County: Pescadero High School 360 Butano Cutoff Road in Pescadero Santa Cruz County: Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds 2601 E. Lake Avenue in Watsonville

No animal shelters have been listed yet.

Additional useful links with updated info

Cal Fire CZU (Twitter) County of Santa Cruz Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office Santa Cruz County residents can sign up for emergency alerts here and here. San Mateo County residents can sign up for emergency alerts here.

This post will be updated.KQED’s David Marks contributed to this story.

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