Winds threaten to intensify fire in wine country
Firefighters warily watched for “violent” winds expected in the wine country that could fan the flames of a massive blaze that has destroyed nearly 250 buildings and is threatening thousands more in a small town known for hot springs, mud baths and wineries.
More fire crews and equipment were deployed overnight in and around Calistoga, a town of 5,000 people in the hills of Napa County, after a forecast called for strong winds amid extreme heat and low humidity forecast.
“Fire crews areworking tomake asmuchprogress on the fire as possible before anticipated winds arrive,” Calistoga officials said in a statement.
More than 2,000 firefighters are battling the Glass Fire, which grew by about 5,000 acres overnight to 56,781 acres in total size. At least 143 homes have been destroyed in Napa and Sonoma counties, and at least another 46 sustained damage by the flames. has charred 89 square miles
in Napa and Sonoma counties with almost no containment. It has destroyed about 250 buildings, including 143 homes. Crews increasedtheir containmentof theGlassFire to 5% by Thursday morning, according to Cal Fire.
As the firefight entered its fifth dayThursday afternoon, the flames reachedHighway 29 northeast of Calistoga for the first time since the fire erupted. Some the country’s most famous wineries are located along the valley floor corridor between Napa and St. Helena — directly under threat from the inferno.
Throughout Tuesday and Wednesday, favorable weather conditions slowed the spread of the blaze, but another red-flag warning — meaning highwinds, dryand extremely high temperatures — was looming Thursday afternoon.
Cal Fire Chief Mark Brunt on said the extreme fire conditions are expected to last approximately 36 hours.
“The spread of the fire is almost imminent as we speak,” he said during a virtual press briefing Thursday.
The winds could potentially push the flames down the Highway 29 corridor of Napa Valley — where a large share of the county’s wineries are — as well as into the communities of Angwin on the east side of the fire, Kenwood and Glen Ellen to the south and Calistoga.
“We’re doing everything we can and allocating our resources as best as we can to try to mitigate the threat, but it is something we’re extremely concerned about,” Brunton said.
In the immediate Bay Area, air quality was expected to take a dive through at least Friday, according to the National Weather Service, as smoke from“numerous” fires drifted toward the region. Forecasters also issuedaheat advisory for the region.
Brunton said the fire lines along Highway 12 and near Santa Rosa are strong and the threat is very low to Sonoma County’s largest city, where about 13,000 residents were still under evacuation orders as ofWednesday.
Thursday morning, crews were trying to tame the flames in the Palisades mountain range — where crews were dropping thousands of gallons of fire retardant the night before — just northeast of Calistoga.
On the south side of the fire along the Napa-Sonoma county line, more than two dozen engineswere responding to another spot fire that broke out on the north side of Oakville Grade Road. Hand crewswere trying to cut lines on the steep hillside to stop the fire from spreading to the community ofOakville to the east and jumping the road andmoving further south.
That prompted additional evacuations between Whitehall Lane and Bella Oaks Lane up to the Sonoma county line, as well as warnings for those west of Highway 29.
After Napa County issued two evacuation orders in short succession for sections of its county, Sonoma County Sheriff Mark Essick said there was a “very real possibility” that new evacuation orders could be issued for Sonoma County with in the next 24 hours.
On Wednesday night, a new round of evacuation orders was issued for areas between Old Lawley Toll Road and Pope Valley Road from Ink Grade Road to Aetna Springs Road, as well as all recreational areas in or near Robert Louis Stevenson State Park. Highway 29 from Tubbs Lane totheLakeCounty line remains open to through vehicle traffic.
Crews battling the Zogg Fire to the north gained significant containment on the blaze. Cal Fire reported 26% containment — and about 3,000 new acres burned for a total of 55,046 blackened acres between Shasta and Tehama counties.
With the calendar turned to October, the heart of California’s fire season has arrived. Already, however, double the land that burned all of last year has been scorched in 2020: roughly 4 million acres, or about five times the size of Yosemite National Park.