California’s wine country under siege

Flames driven by hot winds torch hundreds of homes; 20,000 forced to flee

SAN RAFAEL, CALIF. Windwhipped fires sweeping across California’s wine country Monday killed at least 10 people, burned hundreds of homes and buildings and forced thousands to flee communities, hospitals and wineries ahead of the hard-charging flames.

Officials confirmed seven dead in Sonoma County, two in Napa and one in Mendocino County to the north.

That makes the day one of the deadliest in the state’s wildfire history, although records are difficult to compare because Monday’s deaths were caused by multiple fires burning in the same general area, rather than a single blaze.

California State Forestry and Fire Protection chief Ken Pimlott conservatively estimated that 1,500 homes, businesses and other structures were destroyed in Northern California alone — and a separate fire burned outside Los Angeles to the south.

About 20,000 people were evacuated from the Northern California fires, Pimlott said. The fires continued burning Monday evening as firefighters poured into the area and air tankers hammered the flames from above.

Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency in multiple counties, requested a major disaster declaration and mobilized the National Guard to help combat the burgeoning crisis. CalFire called in the world’s largest firefighting air tanker, a Coloradobased converted 747 that made multiple drops in Northern California on Monday.

In Santa Rosa, 50 miles north of San Francisco in Sonoma County, “fast-moving fires” compelled authorities to continually expand the area of mandatory evacuations. More than a dozen evacuation centers were opened, though some quickly filled.

The Sutter Santa Rosa Hospital evacuated its 80 patients; the hospital reported on social media that “all patients and staff are safe.”

“Leave immediately,” the police department warned residents on Facebook after the fire jumped a freeway. “This is a life-threatening situation.”

Marian Williams said she caravanned with neighbors through the flames as one of the wildfires reached the vineyards near her home in Kenwood.

“It was an inferno like you’ve never seen before,” she said. “Trees were on fire like torches.”

San Francisco smelled like fire, and the city warned residents to close windows and keep children and pets indoors to avoid inhaling the smoke.

In Napa County, east of Sonoma, one fire burned 200 acres and forced the evacuation of hundreds of homes and businesses. Another fire straddling the two counties ballooned from 200 acres to more than 20,000 acres.

“This fire exploded,” state Fire Battalion Chief Jonathan Cox told KTVU in Oakland.

The Silverado Resort and Spa, which hosted the professional golf tour’s Safeway Open that ended Sunday, was evacuated, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Chris Thomas, 42, of Kirkland, Wash., told the Chronicle he arrived late Sunday with his wife, Marissa Schneider.

They smelled smoke, saw a fire truck roll by, then were ordered to evacuate via loudspeaker, Thomas said.

“It was surreal,” Thomas told the Chronicle. “When I started loading stuff into the car, it was a hell-storm of smoke and ash. I couldn’t even breathe.”

“It was an inferno like you’ve never seen before. Trees were on fire like torches.”

Marian Williams, Kenwood, Calif.

JUSTIN SULLIVAN, GETTY IMAGES A resident rushes to save his home Monday as a wildfire races through Glen Ellen, Calif. Tens of thousands of acres and dozens of homes and businesses have been burned in Napa and Sonoma counties.

JEFF CHIU, AP