Doug Stanglin,
After a brief break from howling gusts, residents and firefighters in Northern California's Sonoma County braced for more ferocious "Diablo winds" Saturday, prompting new evacuations of at least 90,000 people near the roaring Kincade Fire.
The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office called the evacuations the biggest in the county in more than a quarter-century.
“We need our community members to take these warnings seriously ... it's time to drop things, pack and go,” said Healdsburg Mayor David Hagele, one of two towns on the evacuation list.
At a news conference, Windsor Mayor Dominic Foppoli called the rapid approach of wildfires “a life-threatening situation and a danger to our entire town.”
The 900 residents of Geyserville cleared out on Friday.
To the south, the Tick Fire, which broke out around Santa Clarita near Los Angeles, has already scorched 7 square miles and was 55% contained.
Authorities say human remains have been found within the burned area. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said it’s too soon to know if the death is connected to the fire in Santa Clarita.
The Kincade Fire in the wine-growing county north of San Francisco has already destroyed nearly 39 square miles and 49 buildings, including 21 homes.
The National Weather Service warned of historic high winds in most of the San Francisco Bay Area from Saturday evening into early Monday, particularly across the North Bay.
"Aside from the long duration, extremely strong offshore winds, critically low humidity, dry fuels primed to burn, and fire already on the ground from the Kincade fire all combine to bring these extreme fire weather conditions," the weather service said.
With forecasts of wind gusts hitting 85 mph in some areas, Pacific Gas & Electric began cutting off power Saturday night to almost 1 million homes and businesses in the region to prevent more outbreaks of fire.
Fire officials said the blaze, which erupted Wednesday near a malfunctioning electrical transmissions tower, was only 10% contained.
Forecasters warned that dangerous winds up to 85 mph coupled with low humidity could produce “historic” weather conditions Saturday night into Sunday.
"Any fires that develop will likely spread quickly,” according to the weather service.
Although the cause of the Kincade Fire has not been determined, Pacific Gas & Electric told state regulators that one of its lines near where the fire broke out malfunctioned only minutes before the blaze erupted.
To lower the risk of triggering fires in areas with dry vegetation, the utility has enacted a controversial policy of shutting down power when strong winds are forecast. While that cuts off electricity in the immediate threat area, it also affects residents in areas farther away that are not threatened by fire.
PG&E principal meteorologist Scott Strenfel said in a statement that the wind forecast for the weekend "has the potential to be one of the strongest in the last several years.”
“It’s also likely to be longer than recent wind events, which have lasted about 12 hours or less,” he said.
PG&E said it would black out 940,000 homes and businesses in 36 counties for 48 hours or longer throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, wine country and Sierra foothills.
No comments:
Post a Comment