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Flames continued to devour large swaths of brush and trees in the North Bay wine country on Wednesday, as firefighters tried to contain the fierce blaze fueled by unruly winds and unseasonably hot, dry weather.
Stretching from north of Calistoga to the eastern edges of Santa Rosa, the Glass Fire, has scorched 48,440 acres in Sonoma and Napa counties, gaining 1,840 acres overnight, Cal Fire said Wednesday morning. It remained just 2% contained.
HAPPENING NOW: This is video of the #GlassFire just now in The Palisades (Napa County) adjacent to the Robert Louis Stevenson State Park. pic.twitter.com/aKnTd45qjc
— CAL FIRE LNU (@CALFIRELNU) September 30, 2020
The massive blaze ignited early Sunday and merged with two smaller fires in an initial rapid southwest advance toward Santa Rosa, forcing over 80,000 residents to flee their homes. Since Tuesday, new evacuation orders and warnings had been issued for a number of areas in Napa County, even as other orders were lifted in some neighborhoods on the eastern edge of Santa Rosa where the threat had diminished.
#GlassFire is 48,440 acres and 2% contained. pic.twitter.com/asDIx5D163
— CAL FIRE LNU (@CALFIRELNU) September 30, 2020
More than 2,000 firefighters continued working around the clock Wednesday, as they braced for another period of high winds expected to begin Thursday.
The National Weather Service on Wednesday issued a red flag warning for the North Bay mountains at elevations of about 1,000 feet, where strong gusts and hot, dry weather are forecast. Set to take effect from 1 p.m. on Thursday to 6 p.m. on Friday, the warning lends additional urgency to the ongoing firefight.
“We’re looking at a very similar wind event than when this fire first started moving out three days ago. Now’s the time for our firefighters to buckle down,” said Cal Fire Battalion Chief Billy Seed at a Wednesday press briefing. Fire crews, he said, were working hard Wednesday to secure existing containment lines.
“We’re preparing for the worst-case scenario and hoping for the best,” he added. “Our firefighters are going to be working around the clock, preparing those lines.”
Red Flag Warning for the North Bay Mountains and areas at and around the #GlassFire starting at 1PM Thursday. While not expecting the same critical fire conditions as what was observed earlier this week, critically dry and breezy conditions are expected in the area.#Cafire pic.twitter.com/RbjK4VhPLx
— NWS Bay Area (@NWSBayArea) September 30, 2020
Over 110 buildings have so far been destroyed, including 80 single-family residences in Napa and Sonoma counties. Roughly 22,500 additional structures are still under threat, Cal Fire Deputy Chief Jonathan Cox said. He noted, however, that damage inspection teams are still surveying the area and “that number is likely to go up.”
The fire is raging across areas of extremely dry vegetation and brush that haven’t burned in nearly a century, officials said. But in a cruel twist of fate, they noted, those flames are running roughly parallel to large stretches of land incinerated in a series of massive, deadly blazes that terrorized the region just three years ago.
The latest perimeter map of the Glass Fire, released by Cal Fire on Sept. 30. (Courtesy Cal Fire)
The Glass Fire continues to threaten the entire area in and around the city of Calistoga, which remains under evacuation orders, said Cal Fire Operations Chief Mark Brunton. The firefight in that area has been very challenging due to rough terrain “that makes it hard to get lines down,” he said.
Winds on Thursday are expected to shift direction and start blowing from the northwest, Brunton added, making it a top priority to continue establishing and maintaining fire lines along the lower areas of the blaze near Sugarloaf Ridge State Park â an area of steep, rough terrain â and the northern section of the fire along Highway 29 and the Silverado Trail area.
âThe trifecta for the spread of wildland fire is fuel, weather and topography,â he said. âAnd we have all three of those in alignment.â
Firefighters, however, had managed to successfully push the fire around the evacuated hilltop community of Angwin, nestled above the Napa Valley, easing that threat.
In Sonoma County, backfires intentionally set by crews had sealed off part of the blaze above Oakmont, the 5,000-resident retirement community on Highway 12 near Calistoga Road, on Santa Rosa’s eastern edge, Brunton said. Crews had also made progress containing the fire in Trione-Annadel State Park, bordering Santa Rosa, although he noted that “the weather will test those lines.”
Brunton also said that despite some narrows windows, there has been little aircraft support in the firefight so far because of unsafe flying conditions due to thick smoke and poor visibility.
Santa Rosa Fire Chief Tony Gossner on Wednesday urged residents to be mindful of their surroundings with the arrival of increased winds, and to immediately report any new fires that ignite.
“For the city of Santa Rosa residents, this wind event is going to be serious enough for everyone to pay attention,” he said. “So whether you live in a warning zone or an evacuation zone, you need to pay attention to the weather and everything around you. It’s vital.”
Sonoma County law enforcement officials also stressed that it is unlawful to remain in areas under evacuation orders, and that those neighborhoods were being regularly patrolled to prevent any break-ins.
“The sheriff’s office is in those zones, patrolling the area, ensuring your property is safe while you are gone,” said Sonoma County Sheriff Mark Essick.
Separately, Cal Fire officials said that on Sunday, the first day of the Glass Fire, two firefighters had to deploy fire shelters while battling the blaze in Napa County.
“Intense fire conditions, fueled by gusty, off-shore winds” forced the firefighters “to take refuge” in aluminized cloth tents, officials said. Neither firefighter was injured, though several transport vehicles were damaged, officials said.
The Glass Fire is one of nearly 30 wildfires burning across California. That includes the Zogg Fire, another fierce blaze farther north in rural Shasta County that also ignited on Sunday and has already charred nearly 52,000 acres, destroyed some 150 structures and killed four people â including one person who died in a hospital Wednesday, according to the Shasta County Sheriff Eric Magrini.
The Zogg Fire is burning in a heavily forested area, where more than 1,200 people have been evacuated.
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday night issued an emergency proclamation for Napa, Sonoma and Shasta counties. The governor has also declared a statewide emergency due to the widespread fires and extreme weather conditions, activated the State Operations Center to its highest level and signed an executive order to streamline recovery efforts in communities impacted by fires.
Additionally, Newsom said he sent a letter to President Trump requesting a Presidential Major Disaster Declaration to assist state and local wildfire response and recovery efforts in Fresno, Los Angeles, Madera, Mendocino, San Bernardino, San Diego and Siskiyou counties.
So far in this yearâs historic fire season, more than 8,100 California wildfires have killed 29 people, scorched 5,780 square miles and destroyed more than 7,000 buildings. The causes of the new fires are under investigation.
Latest Evacuation Information
Napa County evacuation information
City of Calistoga evacuation information
Sonoma County evacuation information
Santa Rosa Evacuation Information: here and here
Latest Evacuation Center Information
Road Closures Information:
Current road closure information in Napa County
Current road closure information in Sonoma County
Animal Evacuations Center(s)
KQED’s Lakshmi Sarah contributed to this story, with additional reporting from the Associated Press.
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