San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Heat, wind move in — fire danger rises
Scorching heat and powerful northerly winds prompted the National Weather Service to issue an urgent warning for the East Bay hills and North Bay mountains Saturday, saying any fires that ignite could spread rapidly.
Pressure will build in the inland regions throughout the weekend, the warning said, leading to high temperatures, low humidity and strong winds. The heat will dry out plants and grasses, which could become fuel for a blaze, said Eric Kurth, a forecaster for the National Weather Service in Sacramento.
Higher elevations in Napa and Sonoma counties and the Diablo range are particularly vulnerable to the dangerous fire conditions.
A red flag fire warning issued Friday will stay in effect for these areas through 8 p.m. Sunday. Winds will range from 15 to 30 mph, with gusts up to 40 mph, and humidity will hover between 10 and 20 percent, dipping to single digits during the hottest, driest times of day.
In San Francisco, someone setting off illegal fireworks Saturday started a grass fire near Highway 280 that damaged the side of a home and injured one person, fire officials said.
Multiple fires broke out Saturday afternoon in the Antioch area, sending at least two people to the hospital. The largest one, at 10 acres, burned through six out buildings and other structures on a rural property.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said Saturday that it deployed extra aircraft in Northern California as a precaution during the elevated fire risk. The aircraft include a tanker and two Black Hawk helicopters.
The Santa Rosa Fire Department added a second battalion chief and a fire engine in response to the red flag warning — the first this season in an area
that was devastated by a monster firestorm last year.
Although Saturday’s heat was unlikely to reach record levels, the parched air and triple-digit temperatures could catch some people off-guard, Kurth said. Heat will bake much of the Sacramento Valley and the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, and thermometers in the Central Valley could hit 107 degrees.
“People aren’t prepared for it, because we’ve had a relatively moderate spring,” Kurth said.
By 5 p.m., Concord had reached a high of 105, Livermore 102 and Kentfield 101, according to the weather service.
The weather service strongly discouraged any activities that could ignite fires. It also urged people to limit strenuous exercise outdoors.