Wine country fires fading, but blazes start elsewhere

As SANTA ROSA, CALIF. — crews gained on the wildfires in California wine country, new blazes broke out in other parts of the state, including a fire in the mountains above Los Angeles that threatened a historic observatory Tues- day and more flames in the Santa Cruz mountains.

Firefighters on the ground and in the air raced to protect the Mount Wilson Observatory and nearby communications towers from a grow- ing brush fire northeast of L.A. The blaze was initially estimated at around 5 acres. The observatory, which has been evacuated, opened in 1917 and houses the 100-inch Hooker Telescope, one of the most advanced telescopes of the early 20th century.

Farther north, a fire that sprang up late Monday in the mountains of the southern Bay Area blackened at least 150 acres and threat- ened 150 homes, which prompted evacuation orders. Smoke was descending into the coastal beach town of Santa Cruz.

In the state’s wine-making region, tens of thousands of people began drifting back to their neighborhoods. Some returned to find their homes gone.

The deadliest wildfires in California history have been burning for more than a week, killing at least 41 people and destroying nearly 6,000 homes. .

“It’s never going to be the same,” said Rob Brown, a supervisor in Mendocino County, where all 8,000 evacuees were cleared to go home Monday. “You’re going to have to seek a new normal.”

The thousands of calls coming from concerned residents in neighboring Sonoma County “have shifted from questions about evacuation to questions about coping,” Sonoma County Supervisor Shirlee Zane said.