Firefighters on Friday continued to battle a destructive wildfire that has leveled nearly two dozen homes and charred tens of thousands of acres in Northern California’s wine country.
The Kincade Fire in northern Sonoma County has scorched 25,455 acres, destroyed 49 structures, including at least 21 homes, and triggered evacuation orders for about 2,000 people in and around Geyersville, a community located about 70 miles north of San Francisco. The blaze is 10% contained and is threatening 23,500 structures, Cal Fire says.
Evacuation orders have been issued by Cal Fire as of 10:30 p.m. Friday for the following areas of Sonoma County: Ida Clayton Road, North to Highland Ranch Road at Campbell Road, East of Hwy. 101 between Asti Road and Alexander Valley Road to the Mendocino and Lake County Lines, including Lakeview Road and extending South along the Lake and Sonoma County Like to Ida Clayton Road. These evacuation orders include residents on Ida Clayton Road.
Additional evacuation warnings have been issued as of 10:30 p.m. Friday north of Hwy. 101 from the Sonoma and Napa County lines, east of Hwy. 128 to Ida Clayton Road.
Fire officials said that an evacuation warning is not mandatory, but those who need additional time to evacuate should prepare now as mandatory evacuations may be issued as conditions change.
An evacuation center has been established at the Healdsburg Community Center, fire officials confirmed.
Evacuation warnings have been issued as of Friday at 8 p.m. for the communities of Gifford Springs, Whispering Pines, Anderson Springs, Hobergs and Cobb Mountain. Evacuation warnings are also in effect for residents of Fort Flat Road and Socrates Mine Road.
Non-life threatening injuries were reported at about 6:20 p.m. Friday when a firefighter discovered two evacuees who were seeking safety. The fire intensified and the firefighter was forced to deploy his fire shelter. All three were transported to a local hospital and are expected to survive, officials confirmed.
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday declared a state of emergency in Sonoma County due to the destruction and hardship caused by the blaze. The emergency proclamation was also issued in Los Angeles County where crews continue to fight the Tick Fire.
The Kincade Fire broke out Wednesday night northeast of Geyserville. Flames fanned by roughly 60 mph wind gusts raced toward the town, forcing an evacuation order for the entire community.
Among those fleeing was 81-year-old Harry Bosworth, who awoke before sunrise Thursday to find a firetruck and firefighters in his driveway. As he and his wife drove off, flames surrounded their driveway and their barn caught fire.
“I could see the fire coming, so we got the heck out of there,” Bosworth said after escaping to his daughter’s house in the neighboring town of Healdsburg.
Evacuation orders remained in place Friday for the following areas: all of Geyserville, Cloverdale Geysers Road, Geysers Road, Red Winery Road, Alexander Mountain Road, Pine Flat Road and all roads east of Highway 128 to Geyserville.
Evacuation centers have been set up at the Healdsburg Community Center (1557 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg), the Sonoma County Fairgrounds (1350 Bennett Valley Rd., Santa Rosa) and the Santa Rosa Veterans Memorial Building (1351 Maple Ave., Santa Rosa).
Calmer winds on Thursday and Friday helped the roughly 1,300 fire personnel on scene get a handle on the flames, but stronger gusts in the weekend forecast have firefighters racing to gain even more containment.
The fire was whipped up by high winds that prompted PG&E to impose sweeping blackouts affecting about 500,000 people in Northern and Central California.
The utility says power was restored to most people by Thursday evening but is warning of another broad shutdown that could affect 2 million people starting Saturday.
The blackouts were instituted after utility electrical equipment was blamed for setting several blazes in recent years that killed scores of people and burned thousands of homes.
PG&E said Thursday it didn’t deenergize a 230,000-volt transmission line near Geyserville that it said malfunctioned minutes before the Kincade Fire erupted.
The company filed a report with the state utilities commission saying it found a “broken jumper” wire on a transmission tower around 9:20 p.m. Wednesday.
PG&E CEO Bill Johnson said it was too soon to know if the faulty equipment started the fire. He said the tower had been inspected four times in the past two years and appeared to have been in “excellent condition.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Source: NBC Bay Area
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