Rainstorm expected to douse last fires in North Bay
Firefighters expect to fully contain the deadly Wine Country wildfires this week, just as a final blow to the burn areas is anticipated from above — in the form of rain.
The most vicious blaze to explode across Sonoma and Napa counties three weeks ago, the 36,807-acre Tubbs Fire, was 98 percent contained Sunday, nearing the 100 percent mark when crews are confident they’ve entirely surrounded the burn with fire breaks. The blaze has killed 22 people and leveled 5,300 structures, most in Santa Rosa.
The nearby Nuns Fire to the south, which destroyed 1,200 structures and killed one person, was also 98 percent contained. Late last week, crews fully contained Napa County’s Atlas Fire and the Redwood Valley Fire in Mendocino County.
As residents return to their once-evacuated neighborhoods, fears of looting have occasionally been realized. The latest case came in Santa
Rosa on Saturday when police arrested two outof-towners suspected of stealing from homes.
The suspects, identified as 31-year-old Monterey resident Johnathon Leon Lee Conner and Christina Marsh, 22, of Marina, were arrested after a high-speed police chase through the fire zone.
As fire crews encircle the thousands of acres of charred land with bulldozed, paved and handwhacked containment lines, rain is forecast for the region. The system, forecasters said, is on track to hit Friday and Saturday.
“I’d say we’re moving out of the fire season,” said Drew Peterson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s office in Monterey. “The fires are driven by the winds, and we typically see those die down in November with wetting rain that drenches the existing wildfires and puts some moisture into the fuels so they don’t burn as readily.”
The wet weather, which preliminary models estimate will bring 2 to 3 inches of rain to higher elevations around the North Bay, may mean the end of fire danger but could still cause problems.
Forecasters will be closely watching the fire’s burn scars and the potential for mudslides and debris flows, problems that could linger throughout the rainy season on the scorched hills and valleys.
While the system is expected to be the first significant rain of the season for the Bay Area — San Francisco is forecast to get more than an inch — this week’s weather will also be defined by a return to lower temperatures.
Highs are expected in the low 60s to low 70s around much of the Bay Area on Monday, with only a slight warming trend inland midweek before the rain.
In the Sierra, snow is expected as low as 6,000 feet later in the week.