The Kincade Fire, driven by howling diablo winds up to 93 mph, forced the evacuation of a hospital in Northern California early Sunday as the blaze moved closer to Healdsburg and Windsor.
About 100 patients and 200 staffers moved out of the Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital around 4 a.m. CDT Sunday, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. "Everybody is accounted for and out the door,” hospital spokesman Shaun Ralston said. Patients were moved to other hospitals. A Sonoma County evacuation center, the Finley Community Center, was also evacuated.
At least three wineries were burning, including the Soda Rock Winery in Healdsburg. There, a stone building erected in 1869 was completely engulfed in flames, according to the Chronicle. Buildings were also burning at Field Stone Winery and Moville Vineyards.
The Sonoma County Sheriff's Office closed Highway 101 in both directions indefinitely. Northbound lanes were closed at Hopper Avenue in northern Santa Rosa, and southbound lanes were shut down at Cloverdale Boulevard S. in Cloverdale.
More than 180,000 residents in Northern California have been ordered to evacuate their homes because of the fast-growing Kincade Fire, including the towns of Healdsburg and Windsor, which have a combine population of more than 38,000 people. The evacuation zones extended all the way to the coast.
"Heavy smoke, debris and strong wind reported near Brooks and Arata in Windsor. If you are in Windsor you need to get out now," the Sonoma Sheriff's Office warned about 3:40 a.m.
Altogether, 79 structures have been destroyed, and 14 have been damaged by the Kincade Fire, which has burned more than 46 square miles, according to Cal Fire. Electricity has been shut off to an estimated 3 million people this weekend.
Meanwhile, in Southern California, human remains were found Saturday in the scorched path of the Tick Fire that burned at least six houses.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said Saturday it was too soon to know if the death is connected to the fire in Santa Clarita, just outside of Los Angeles. The death is under investigation.
The Tick Fire started Thursday afternoon and triggered evacuation orders for 50,000 people. Most were allowed to return to their homes Saturday morning when the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff's Station lifted evacuation orders. The blaze had burned about 7.2 square miles and was 55% contained.
Pacific Gas and Electric on Saturday began to cut power to about 940,000 customers in parts of 38 counties in Northern California as a precautionary move aimed at preventing more wildfires. The blackouts have the potential to affect more than 3 million people when taking into account the number who live in each household and other factors.
The Kincade Fire was only 11% contained early Sunday, according to Cal Fire. In addition to nearly 3,000 firefighters, there were 10 helicopters, 179 engines and heavy equipment including 24 bulldozers on the scene.
The Kincade Fire was first reported near Geyserville on Wednesday and subsequently exploded in size. Officials fear that this weekend's high winds could ground water-dropping aircraft and blow hot embers far ahead of the fire to spark new blazes.
"You can't fight a fire that's spotting ahead of itself a quarter of a mile, half a mile, in some cases a mile ahead of itself," Cal Fire Division Chief Jonathan Cox told the Associated Press.
Containment efforts took a dangerous turn on Friday when one firefighter had to deploy his personal fire shelter to save two residents trying to flee the blaze.
“While working on an active portion of the fire, the firefighter came across two civilians who were attempting to evacuate from the fire when fire activity intensified,” officials said, according to the Chronicle. “At that point the firefighter was forced to deploy his fire shelter, where he shielded them from fire.”
Fire shelters are generally used as a last resort when there is no other way to escape the flames. The incident, which happened around 6:20 p.m. CDT Friday, left fire crews shaken, the Chronicle reported. The firefighter and the two civilians were taken to a hospital for evaluation but did not appear to have serious injuries.
The cause of the Kincaid Fire was under investigation, but there were some indications that a PG&E power line may have sparked the blaze. The utility turned off power to some 200,000 customers ahead of the mid-week fire threat, but said a transmission line near the origin of the fire was still energized and it malfunctioned around the time flames broke out.
As the blaze grew in size, residents watched and waited. Tina Tavares clutched her dog Savannah outside a shelter Friday afternoon. She told the Chronicle she had evacuated from her home on Wednesday, and spent much of Friday praying.
“I can’t explain it,” the 70-year-old Tavares said. “It’s like you’re in a bad earthquake, the ground is opening up swallowing people and you’re seeing it and don’t know what to do.”
In October 2017, the Tubbs Fire burned nearly 58 square miles in parts of Napa and Sonoma counties. The fire killed 22 people and destroyed 5,636 structures.
The planned power outages had residents, business owners and others on edge.
Jeff Cave lost his home in the Tubbs Fire. He's executive director of an assisted living facility in Santa Rosa, which frantically evacuated its residents as the blaze burned nearby two years ago, according to the Mercury News.
“Going through the fire and the smoke and all that, it triggers you when the lights go off,” Cave told the newspaper. “It’s just like — everything’s quiet.”
The outages will target parts of 38 counties including portions of Humboldt, the Sierra foothills, Western Sacramento Valley, North Bay, and across the greater Bay area, Monterey Bay and northern Central Coast, PG&E said in a press release Friday afternoon.
Forecasters and PG&E warned that the winds could be among the strongest observed in the region in years.
"This will be a long duration and potentially extreme/historic event across the North Bay," the National Weather Service's Bay Area office warned on its website.
Red flag warnings and high wind warnings were in effect, mostly across Northern California, from Saturday night into Monday. The NWS warned that wind gusts could reach 80 mph near mountain summits, 60 mph below the summits and 55 mph across large parts of the San Francisco Bay area.
Several other fires were also burning around the region.
Two fires that began early Sunday on Bethel Island and near Oakley, California, in rural Contra Costa County, led to the evacuation of residents of a mobile home park and a neighborhood, fire officials said. The first fire began shortly after 3 a.m. in the Santiago Mobile Home Park. About 5:45 a.m., crews responded to a second fire in Oakley.
Two new fires that broke out Friday prompted evacuations. The Miller Fire near Valley Center, about 38 miles north of San Diego, burned three structures and damaged one other. The fire had burned about 37 acres as of and was 75 percent contained. Some 100 personnel, 4 helicopters and 10 engines were battling the blaze.
The Sawday Fire had burned nearly 100 acres and was 85 percent contained. Evacuations were ordered on Friday but later lifted.
The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.
The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.
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