Wildfires ravage California, killing at least 17
FAST-moving wildfires raging across northern California’s wine country have killed 17 people, left about 150 missing and destroyed 1 500 homes, wineries and other structures, fire officials said.
The flames from 17 major blazes have blackened more than 46 500 hectares since fires broke out on Sunday amid hot, dry conditions and high winds.
The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office said 11 of the fatalities were in its jurisdiction, where 155 people were still missing, although 45 others had been found and some of those unaccounted for may be due to confusion surrounding evacuations.
In Napa County, the dead included 100-year-old Charles Rippey and his wife, Sarah, 98, according to the county sheriff’s office.
One of their grieving sons Mike Rippey, 71, said the couple first met as teenagers and “they’ve basically been together ever since”.
When the fast-moving wildfire whipped into their house, the pair, who had just celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary, died together.
“They just couldn’t be without each other. The fact they went together is probably what they would have wanted.”
Rippey described the blaze that hit his parents’ home as a “rainstorm except it was fire”.
“They were not able to move fast enough to get out.”
Fire operations chief Steve Crawford said: “There’s a lot of devastation out there, people running around who just lost everything.”
North of San Francisco, the fires reduced houses to ashes in several communities.
The city of Santa Rosa was particularly hard hit by the socalled Tubbs Fire, which damaged a Hilton hotel and destroyed a mobile home park.
Tens of thousands of residents were forced to flee, as schools closed and two hospitals in Sonoma County were temporarily shuttered.
Napa Valley Vintners, a trade group with 550 members, said it was too early to estimate the economic impact of the fires.
At least four wineries had suffered total or very significant losses, and at least nine reported damage to their winery, outbuildings or surrounding vineyards, the group said.
More than 91 000 homes and businesses were without power, and gas was shut off to 28 000 customers, representatives for a utility company said.
California governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency in Napa, Sonoma and five other counties.