Smoke spreads as fires grow
Blazes statewide stretch crews thin — Spare the Air alert for Bay Area
JANESVILLE, Lassen County — Thousands of firefighters continued their assaults Thursday on several massive wildfires burning across Northern California, including two menacing blazes in the Sierra Nevada that contributed to smoky skies across the Bay Area.
One of the most challenging efforts is the campaign to rein in the behemoth, monthold Dixie Fire, which grew to nearly 700,000 acres while containment held at 35%. The second-largest fire in California’s recorded history, it’s flattened more than 1,200
structures, including about 650 single-family homes in the northern Sierra by Lake Almanor. Three first responders have been injured.
Resources to help contain the fire have been stretched thin because of the large number of fires burning in California and other states, federal officials said.
Firefighters said they had “maintained aggressive engagement” on the east side of the fire near Janesville, and rotary aircraft had helped crews working in the Genessee Valley.
On Janesville Grade Road, small and large tankers repeatedly dumped retardant on the flames.
“We’re going to keep pounding it,” a Cal Fire firefighter said as a tanker rumbled overhead. Several minutes later, however, the valley below filled with smoke and the planes ceased their drops.
Instead, helicopters moved in and made water drops. Other helicopters flew over the edge of the fire, peering at its progress and plotting the firefight. Nearby, water tankers filled portable rubber pools with water and a crew prepared to hike in and combat the flames.
Farther south in the Sierra, the menacing Caldor Fire remained completely out of control as it burned through the Eldorado National Forest south of Pollock Pines in El Dorado County. More than 100 structures have been destroyed and nearly 7,000 more were threatened by the 68,000-acre fire. It has injured two people since it started Saturday near the community of Grizzly Flats, which was subsequently devastated by flames.
Officials said fire activity was relatively calm early in the day but picked up after about 3 p.m., burning through steep drainages stuffed with dead and fallen vegetation. California’s severe drought has provided ample fuel for the Caldor Fire, drying trees and brush to levels not typically seen until late September, according to Cal Fire.
As of late Thursday afternoon, the fire remained south of Highway 50 and had not yet crossed the critical route that links the Sacramento area to the south side of Lake Tahoe. But the fire was just a few hundred yards away from the highway, said Cal Fire operations section chief Eric Schwab. He said the fire had been spreading east, away from most structures in the area.
The Dixie and Caldor fires were among 13 large wildland blazes being fought by more than 11,000 firefighters across California on Thursday. More than 1.4 million acres have burned since the start of the year, as the state sinks deeper into drought conditions exacerbated by rising temperatures linked to climate change.
The flames filled Bay Area skies with smoke, prompting air-quality officials to issue Spare the Air Alerts for Thursday and Friday. Woodburning devices were banned while the alerts are in effect, and people were urged to stay inside if they could smell smoke.
Weather forecasters expect Bay Area air quality to begin improving Friday, as winds from the ocean push wildfire smoke east. That pattern should persist over the weekend, said Brian Garcia, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Monterey.
But Garcia said the incoming wind gusts could also fuel the growth of new grass fires in the Bay Area, should any sparks set them off.
“The fuels are still very dry, and any sort of wind kind of makes all our hairs stand up on the backs of our necks,” Garcia said. “Grass fires can really take a run in these types of conditions.”
In Lake County, the Cache Fire that broke out Wednesday and destroyed dozens of structures in the Clearlake area was 75 acres and 40% contained Thursday evening, officials said.
Law enforcement leaders said they were not aware of any deaths or missing people in connection with the fire. They said firefighters were initially responding to an oven fire Wednesday when they saw a column of smoke rising from the southeast corner of town, where they found debris, cars and vegetation burning amid winds that exceeded 20 mph.
Near the east side of the raging Dixie Fire, Joe Egan and his daughter Rylie zipped up and down dirt roads on ATVs amid smoldering logs and occasional flashes of flames as they searched for 700 head of cattle Thursday morning.
The Egans, who came equipped with a pickup truck and cattle trailer, and two ATVs, were either rescuing cows or trying to drive them away from the active areas of the Dixie Fire as it spread east and south above Janesville.
They found just eight, which they trucked to their land in Janesville but hadn’t spotted any more. “They’re scattered everywhere,” said Joe, who has five allotments allowing cattle to graze in the Plumas National Forest.
As Rylie, who also works as an ER nurse in Reno, waited for her dad to return from a cow-searching expedition, she gave directions to various out-of-town firefighters, and asked each one, “Haven’t seen any cattle, have you?”
No one had.
This is the third straight year fires have burned through the Egans’ grazing areas.
“It’s an every-year thing now,” Rylie said.