State of emergency declared in California
LOS ANGELES: California’s governor declared a statewide emergency on Sunday as a huge blaze, fanned by strong winds, forced mass evacuations and power blackouts as it bore down on towns in the famed Sonoma wine region.
The so-called Kincade Fire, north of San Francisco, has spread to 30,000 acres and was only 10% contained by Sunday evening, state fire authorities said.
The blaze, the largest of more than a dozen wildfires burning throughout the state, has destroyed dozens of homes and vineyards, including the renowned 150-year-old Soda Rock Winery.
“We’ve seen the news. We are devastated,” the owners said in a Facebook message, adding that all staff at the winery — located in the town of Healdsburg, 112 kilometres north of San Francisco — are safe.
At least two hospitals in Santa Rosa evacuated patients over the weekend to other facilities.
The Kincade Fire — the most devastating in California this year — ignited Wednesday and spread quickly thanks to powerful gusts of up to 145 kilometres per hour.
“Over 3,000 people are working on the fire as we speak, making sure the evacuation is going smoothly and people are taking it seriously,” said state governor Gavin Newsom.
An estimated 180,000 people were under mandatory evacuation orders, including in parts of Santa Rosa and a large swath of Sonoma County all the way to the Pacific Ocean.
“This is the largest evacuation that any of us at the Sheriff’s Office can remember. Take care of each other,” the Sonoma County sheriff’s office tweeted.
Authorities said the area was to remain under dangerous red flag conditions until yesterday morning.
“Things will improve as we head into Monday and Tuesday but we need to be resilient,” a spokesman for the National Weather Service told a news conference.
A fire official warned that should the flames continue spreading west and jump over a major freeway — the 101 — that could prove even more catastrophic, as that region hasn’t had any fires since the 1940s.
“The fuels in that area are extremely dense, they are extremely old and decadent, and they are extremely dry,” he said, referring to the combustible materials including shrubs and trees feeding the fire.
More than 3,000 firefighters backed by air tankers and helicopters were battling to control the blaze, which was not expected to be contained before Nov 7, fire officials said.
Sonoma County Sheriff Mark Essick told a news conference that hundreds of police officers backed by the National Guard had been deployed in regions under evacuation orders to check property and prevent looting.
Several other fires have erupted throughout the state in the last week, fueled by high winds, bone-dry conditions and temperatures between 26C and 32C.