Fire engulfs over 60,000 acresofWineCountry
Firefighters stood guard as the Glass Fire continued to encroach on the communities of Calistoga.
Firefighters stood guard outside some of the country’s most renowned vineyards and the homes that surround them Friday as the Glass Fire continued to encroach on the communities of Calistoga and St. Helena — the heart of California’s famedWine Country.
The blaze has engulfed more than 60,000 acres, burningmost actively in the hills north of Calistoga and east of St. Helena. As a layer of hot, dry air helped to fuel the flames overnight, the blaze caught onto any fuel it could touch, Cal Fire said Friday. But the wind stayed calmer than anticipated, providing crews some relief and allowing them to increase the fire’s overall containment to 6%.
Crews reported progress near the Highway 12 corridor, said Cal Fire Battalion Chief Mark Brunton, and have successfully staved off flames fromentering the city of Santa Rosa. Despite the steep terrain near Highway 29, the fire has likewise yet to jump the roadway. There were no changes to mandatory evacuation orders.
Outside Calistoga, however, it’s been tougher to beat back hotspots, Brunton said. At least one home outside St. Helena was meanwhile among the 220 residences to have burned down, while a house on the 1300 block of Tucker Road was engulfed late Thursday as flames jetted out windows of both its two stories.
“It’s been very difficult for us to place control lines in there,” Brunton said. “We’ve been having to go structure by structure.”
The Glass Fire has been more destructive than the Zogg Fire, which has damaged or destroyed 180 structures and torched 56,000 acres, but not more deadly; there has yet to be an injury or fatality reported in the Glass Fire.
Although offshore winds were less severe than forecasted, a red-flag warning remained in effect in the North Bay mountains, East Bay hills and Santa Cruz mountains through Friday. The heavy haze over the region was expected to see some “gradual clearing” Friday, according to theNational Weather Service.
Even aftermidnight, temperatures around the region hovered above 80 degrees. Closer to the fire line, it was still about 90 degrees at 12:45 a.m. Friday, according to theNWS.
As flames threatened St. Helena and Calistoga from thewest and east late Thursdaynight, a strike force from the San Jose Fire Department prepared to defend the AXR winery a few hundred yards west of Highway 29 between the two towns. Flames were approaching the winery down a steep, forested hillside.
“The fire up on the hill’s going to come right down to us,” said Battalion Chief BrettMaas, who added that the wildfire strike team composed entirely of the San Jose department’s firefighters was a first in the department’s history outside the city.
Predicted high winds for the afternoon weren’t as severe as expected, and the team’s 22 firefighters, with five engines, were able to save three homes and two outbuildings above the winery, Maas said.
On the eastern edge of Calistoga, fire crews were scrambling to extinguish fire that swept down a grassy, oak- dotted hillside, consuming several structures and a dump truck beside Highway 29.
By 9 p.m., the flames threatening the AXR winery were still slowly approaching, but firefighters were confident thework they had done, including wetting down surrounding areas and moving flammable materials
suchas outdoor furniture and awnings away from buildings, would help ensure the winery was saved.
“We have a good perimeter around it,” Maas said. “We have an engine in there.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom toured Napa County on Thursday and said the state was putting “all we have in terms of resources” intofirefighting,
particularly over the windy period.
“I’ve got four young kids in elementary school and I can’t imagine for the children and parents, the families, that may be seeing these images, what’s going through your minds,” said Newsom, standing in front of a burned-out elementary school building.
The Glass Fire is the
fourth major blaze in the region in three years and comes ahead of the third anniversary of an Oct. 8, 2017, wildfire that killed 22 people.
Around the state, 17,000 firefighters were battling nearly two dozen major blazes. Virtually all the damage has occurred since midAugust, when five of the six largest fires in state history erupted. Lightning strikes caused some of the most devastating blazes.
Cal Fire Deputy Chief Jonathan Cox said wildfires have scorched 3.9 millionacres inCalifornia since Aug. 15. That figure, which works out to more than 6,000 square miles, is astonishing even in a state that has hadits fair shareoffires.
“It’s likely that over the next day or twowewill crest the 4-million- acre mark. The biggest year before this year was 1.54 million,” Cal Fire Chief Thom Porter said. “We aredwarfing that previous record and we have a lot of season left to go.”
The death toll increased to 31 people after a person burned in the LNU Lightning Complex died from their injuries, Cal Fire said in a statement. A cluster of fires sparked by lightning inmidAugust in the Bay Area was fully contained Thursday.
Fire officials said the Glass Fire was their top priority. Since erupting Sunday, the fire has destroyed nearly 600 buildings, including 220 homes and nearly the same number of commercial structures.
About 80,000 peoplewere under evacuation orders and officials warned that more were possible. Fire and public safety officials askedpeople to remain vigilant, stay out of evacuation zones and quit demanding that officers let themback into off-limits neighborhoods.
About 150 miles to the north of wine country, the Zogg Fire, which also erupted during Sunday’s high winds and grew quickly, has killed four people and destroyed 153 buildings.
The Shasta County sheriff’s office released two of their names Thursday: Karin King, 79, who was foundon the roadwhere the fire started, and Kenneth Vossen, 52, who suffered serious burns and later died in a hospital. Both were from the small town of Igo.