Los Angeles Times

DEVASTATIO­N GROWS

Thousands more Northern California­ns ordered to flee amid firestorm that has scorched 170,000 acres and killed at least 23

- By Louis Sahagun, Paige St. John, Javier Panzar and Joel Rubin

Ash is nearly all that remains of obliterate­d homes in Santa Rosa. Thousands more Northern California residents have been ordered to evacuate as the death toll and acreage burned increase.

CALISTOGA, Calif. — Dennis DeVilbiss had made up his mind.

“I’m not leaving,” the former cop and firefighte­r said Wednesday afternoon as he stood on his front porch in Calistoga, a wine country town under threat from an approachin­g wildfire. Authoritie­s had ordered its 5,000 residents to evacuate.

He glanced at smoke drifting over nearby trees, and smiled. “I’m not stupid,” said DeVilbiss, 60. “If it’s time to run, I’ll run like hell.”

As the death toll from 16 wildfires raging in Northern California climbed Wednesday, thousands more residents in Calistoga and elsewhere were ordered to flee their homes and firefighte­rs raced against the setting sun to douse smoldering hot spots before devilish winds

returned to breathe new life into the blazes.

During searches of destroyed homes, authoritie­s found more bodies, bringing the number of dead to at least 23, fire officials said. The loss of life, along with the estimated 170,000 acres and 3,500 structures already burned, ranked the fires as some of the most destructiv­e in state history.

“We’ve had big fires in the past,” Gov. Jerry Brown said at a briefing with state and federal fire officials. “This is one of the biggest.”

With an estimated 50,000 people having left their homes for shelters and hotels, police continued to work to locate several hundred people reported missing by panicked relatives and friends. Authoritie­s said that with communicat­ions hobbled by downed cellphone towers and people making hasty escapes, they were hopeful that most, if not all, would turn up safe.

As Brown made formal emergency declaratio­ns for eight counties, officials described a massive effort to get a handle on the fires, most of which continued to burn unchecked.

Statewide, 30 air tankers, nearly 75 helicopter­s and 550 fire engines with several thousand firefighte­rs had already been pressed into action. State officials requested more than 300 additional engines from other states and the federal government.

Through the night and into Wednesday morning, the devastatin­g Atlas Peak and Tubbs fires continued to churn, feeding on tinder-dry vegetation made thicker by the winter’s heavy rainfall.

The Atlas Peak fire, which has menaced the town of Napa since Sunday, nearly doubled in size to 46,000 acres and began to push south, creating a new threat to Fairfield, a Bay Area city along Interstate 80.

Police ordered evacuation­s in the Green Valley area just outside Fairfield and advised residents in other neighborho­ods to leave. Three school districts in the region — with a total enrollment of about 81,000 students — shut down for the rest of the week as thick smoke enveloped the area.

“This morning it felt like a war zone; yesterday evening you could stare straight at the sun — it was just this purple circle in the sky,” said Jennifer Leonard, a spokeswoma­n for the Vacaville Unified School District. “Ash was falling from the sky.”

In Napa, nearly surrounded by the Atlas Peak fire to the north and east and a smaller blaze to the west, the air was choked with smoke. Much of the town was without power or cell service.

And the Tubbs fire, which began Sunday night in the hills above Santa Rosa and claimed at least 13 lives when it stormed into the city and surroundin­g areas, reversed course and pushed north.

With the fire’s about-face, Calistoga was at risk. At 3:30 a.m., county and town officials there joined police officers in going house to house in one neighborho­od, telling people to leave. By afternoon, they decided to clear the entire town.

A dozen police officers from Oakland, called in to assist local police already stretched too thin, strode through the narrow lanes of a trailer park.

Many residents had already fled, but Larry Strakbein, 75, wanted to stay put.

“I’ve been through a lot in my life, including three wives,” he said. “I can handle myself.”

A moment later, three officers showed up at his door. “Sir, you have to leave,” one said.

Strakbein relented and an officer spray-painted a large red check mark on the street in front of his trailer.

It was the anticipate­d return of the region’s notorious “Diablo” winds Wednesday night that had fire officials most worried.

Commanders dispatched crews of exhausted and sore firefighte­rs to fan out across already-scorched mountainsi­des near Calistoga and Santa Rosa.

Their job was to find and squelch hot spots laden with embers. With axes and shovels, they chopped at shrubs and turned the soil.

The winds can revive embers and send them hurtling through the air. If they land in areas not yet burned, there would be little that firefighte­rs could do to stop them from setting off new conflagrat­ions.

“The clock is ticking, so we’re giving it everything we’ve got,” Division Chief Ben Nicholls of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said as he sliced through dry grass and stubborn roots with a blade. “This isn’t that sexy. It’s called mop-up, and right now it is critical.”

A few miles away, on a ridgeline just north of Calistoga, a hand crew of 13 firefighte­rs worked on a smoldering slope.

“Every glowing ember is a ticking time bomb,” said Stephen Warren, a Cal Fire apparatus engineer.

The causes of the fires remained unknown, though Daniel Berlant, a Cal Fire assistant deputy director, said downed power lines, campfires and machinery are common culprits.

A spokesman for San Francisco-based Pacific Gas & Electric Co. said it is not yet known whether the company’s power lines or transforme­rs sparked any of the fires. With at least 40,000 customers without power in the Santa Rosa area, he said, the utility’s priority is restoring electricit­y.

‘This morning it felt like a war zone; yesterday evening you could stare straight at the sun — it was just this purple circle in the sky. Ash was falling from the sky.’ — JENNIFER LEONARD, Vacaville Unified School District spokeswoma­n

 ?? Photograph­s by Brian van der Brug Los Angeles Times ?? BILL PARRAS, 96, is assisted by Contra Costa County paramedics while evacuating his home Wednesday in Calistoga, Calif. The town’s 5,000 residents were ordered to evacuate as the deadly Tubbs fire reversed course.
Photograph­s by Brian van der Brug Los Angeles Times BILL PARRAS, 96, is assisted by Contra Costa County paramedics while evacuating his home Wednesday in Calistoga, Calif. The town’s 5,000 residents were ordered to evacuate as the deadly Tubbs fire reversed course.
 ??  ?? A FIREFIGHTE­R douses a hot spot near Calistoga as the region’s notorious “Diablo” winds threatened to carry and reignite embers, sparking spot fires.
A FIREFIGHTE­R douses a hot spot near Calistoga as the region’s notorious “Diablo” winds threatened to carry and reignite embers, sparking spot fires.
 ?? Marcus Yam Los Angeles Times ??
Marcus Yam Los Angeles Times
 ?? Marcus Yam Los Angeles Times ?? THE TUBBS FIRE moves up Shiloh Ridge toward a home near Santa Rosa on Wednesday. The fire was one of 16 burning in Northern California, where at least 23 people were killed as the blazes scorched an estimated 170,000 acres and destroyed 3,500...
Marcus Yam Los Angeles Times THE TUBBS FIRE moves up Shiloh Ridge toward a home near Santa Rosa on Wednesday. The fire was one of 16 burning in Northern California, where at least 23 people were killed as the blazes scorched an estimated 170,000 acres and destroyed 3,500...
 ?? Brian van der Brug Los Angeles Times ?? DENNIS DeVILBISS, right, and DJ Mars Smith decided not to evacuate from Calistoga. “I’m not stupid,” DeVilbiss said. “If it’s time to run, I’ll run like hell.”
Brian van der Brug Los Angeles Times DENNIS DeVILBISS, right, and DJ Mars Smith decided not to evacuate from Calistoga. “I’m not stupid,” DeVilbiss said. “If it’s time to run, I’ll run like hell.”
 ?? Brian van der Brug Los Angeles Times ?? A FIRE CREW walks into a Kimball Canyon neighborho­od near Calistoga. Firefighte­rs feared that returning winds could reignite glowing embers and hot spots.
Brian van der Brug Los Angeles Times A FIRE CREW walks into a Kimball Canyon neighborho­od near Calistoga. Firefighte­rs feared that returning winds could reignite glowing embers and hot spots.

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