N. California faces newfire threat
SAN FRANCISCO — Fire crews from across the state were being deployed to Northern California, where hot, windy conditions Wednesday renewed the threat of fire in the region where massive blazes already have destroyed hundreds of homes and killed or injured dozens of people this year.
Most of the huge fires that erupted over the past eight weeks are now fully or significantly contained and skies once stained orange by heavy smoke are blue again. Containment means that firefighters have lines holding in a fire, though it doesn’t mean a fire has stopped burning.
But the gains made by thousands of firefighters assigned to the blazes that have scorched more than 4.1 million acres this year could be hampered if new fires ignite, said Daniel Berlant, assistant deputy director with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, known as Cal Fire.
“If a newfire breaks out, that fire will be able to grow very
quickly under these conditions,” Berlant said.
The National Weather Service issued a red-flag warning for extreme fire danger from 5 a.m. through Friday morning. With bone-dry humidity and wind gusts possibly hitting 55 mph, Pacific Gas & Electric, the largest utility in the nation, warned that itmay cut power to as many as 54,000 customers in 24 counties.
“We really view it as a last re
sort option,” said Mark Quinlan, the company’s incident commander.
All power should be restored by late Friday night, the utility said.
More than 8,500 wildfires have burned more than 6,400 square miles in California since the start of the year, most since mid-August. Thirty-one people have died, and more than 9,200 buildings have been destroyed.