FIRE SEASON? ‘IT’S A FIRE YEAR NOW’
“Given the conditions we were under, it was explosive in terms of its growth and spread,” says Chris Anthony, spokesman for Cal Fire
Firefighters in Northern California on Sunday battled the rapidly spreading County Fire that scorched thousands of acres in Yolo County and reached parts of Napa County, while other crews dealt with flare-ups of the week-old Pawnee Fire in Lake County.
Smoke and ash from the County Fire was blowing into the Bay Area on Sunday afternoon, prompting the Bay Area Air Quality Management District to issue a smoke advisory, which warned the negative impacts on air quality could continue into today and linger into Wednesday.
The County Fire started just after 2 p.m. Saturday, southwest of the Guinda community, about 50
“What’s unusual about this fire is really just the intensity of the fire at this particular point in the summer. We’re seeing fire behavior we normally wouldn’t see until September or October.”
— Chris Anthony, spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
miles west of Sacramento. It moved quickly southward through Yolo County. By 8 p.m. Sunday, it had burned roughly 32,500 acres and had reached some of the western edges of Napa County, near Lake Berryessa, said Chris Anthony, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, also known as Cal Fire.
Thousands of firefighters from the region and the state fought the two blazes, which were driven by “red flag” conditions that include high temperatures, strong winds and low humidity, Anthony said.
“Given the conditions we were under, it was explosive in terms of its growth and spread,” he said of the County Fire.
No deaths or injuries had been reported as of Sunday afternoon in connection with the fire.
Crews battling the County Fire had two percent containment Sunday, with more than 1,000 firefighters in place and more set to be added throughout the day. Agencies from the Bay Area and from as far away as San Diego, Modoc and Mendocino counties have sent firefighters to the area, Anthony said.
Mandatory evacuations are in place in Yolo and Napa counties for all areas north of Highway 128, south of County Road 23, east of Berryessa Knoxville Road and west of County Road 89, according to Cal Fire. Evacuation advisories were issued for the areas south of County Road 81 and west of County Road 85.
An evacuation center has been set up at Guinda Grange Hall at 16487 Forest Avenue in Guinda.
And while the County Fire hadn’t spread into Solano County as of Sunday afternoon, the Solano County Sheriff’s Office issued evacuation advisories for areas north of Quail Canyon Road, south of Highway 128, east of the Blue Ridge mountains and west of Pleasant Valley Road.
“What’s unusual about this fire is really just the intensity of the fire at this particular point in the summer,” Anthony said. “We’re seeing fire behavior we normally wouldn’t see until September or October.”
Anthony said the rapid
spread of the fire is partly due to the large amount of grasses that grew as a result of spring rains in the region that have since dried out.
“Overall, this is the new normal for us. We’re seeing fires grow with greater intensity than what historically we’ve seen,” Anthony said. “The fires seem to be getting larger and more damaging across the landscape.”
Smoke poured into the Bay Area from the County Fire, and ash was visible on cars and homes Sunday morning in the East Bay.
However, any lingering smoke from the fires could be pushed out of the region by some westerly winds Monday, according to Anna Schneider of the National Weather Service in Monterey.
Meanwhile, the Pawnee Fire — which began June 23 in Lake County and destroyed 22 structures — jumped outside of firefighter containment lines Saturday afternoon, burning another 400 acres, bringing the total acres burned to 14,150 as of Sunday morning.
The flare-ups forced evacuations for people in the Double Eagle subdivision, many of whom had just been allowed back to their homes Thursday after previous evacuation orders were cleared, according to Tricia Austin, a spokeswoman for Cal Fire.
An evacuation center was still operating at Lower Lake High School, at 9430 Lake Street, in the southern part of Lake County.
Just over 2,200 firefighters worked the Pawnee Fire as of Saturday evening. By Sunday afternoon, that had been reduced to 1,064 firefighters as crews had the fire 73 percent contained.
“They had good work overnight, so they’re feeling confident today,” Austin said.
Road closures were still in effect at Mule Skinner Road and Highway 20, Walker Ridge Road and Highway 20, and Highway 20 between Highway 16 and Highway 53, according to Cal Fire.
Anthony said the kind of “extreme fire activity” exhibited in the Pawnee and County fires is becoming commonplace not only in the greater Bay Area region, but across California.
“So I think this is fairly indicative of what we’re going to be seeing more often, and unfortunately it also is a precursor I think for what’s going to be a longer fire season,” he said.
“It’s a fire year now,” Anthony said. “Fire season seems to be kind of an old term at this point.”