Kincade fire evacuations expand as fire officials brace for historic winds

THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

October 25, 2019, 5:59PM

Public safety officials are bracing for the worst fire conditions since the North Bay firestorm of 2017 in an environment already saturated with smoke and apprehension as a wildfire rages in the mountains above Geyserville.

With gusts up to 80 mph expected for the highest elevations this weekend, it's hard to say what's worrying them most: the prospect of the nearly 24,000-acre Kincade fire blowing up substantially or the fear that a spark ignited during historically extreme winds could start the next catastrophic California wildfire.

A widespread preemptive blackout scheduled for about 93,000 PG&E customers in Sonoma County, as well as 200 households served by Healdsburg's municipal electric department, may have some preventive impact. But after a similar outage just two days earlier, the shutdown compounded a siege mentality for some, which has been exacerbated by dangerously poor air quality.

Late Friday, the mandatory evacuation zone inched south toward Healdsburg and east toward Knights Valley.

Bright flames visible Friday night from Highway 101 and the Healdsburg area provoked anxiety in the wake of a significant flare-up inside the fire zone earlier in the day. Ambulances raced up Pine Flat Road as a dark plume of smoke rose overhead, then spilled across the county below.

Cal Fire officials later said a firefighter came across two civilians attempting to evacuate the area as flames intensified. He was forced to deploy his portable emergency shelter and managed to shield all three of them from the flames, though they suffered non-life-threatening injuries in the incident, Cal Fire said.

The people involved were taken by ground ambulance to a nearby hospital for treatment and all were expected to survive, Cal Fire said.

As the potential for more evacuations grew, emergency officials spoke frequently of the need for residents to prepare ahead of time and act without hesitation if they are told to flee the path of danger.

"When we call for evacuations, or if we have to call for evacuations, it's not a suggestion," Cal Fire Battalion Chief Jonathan Cox said during a Friday evening news conference. "It is an order — that we believe there is an imminent life threat to you and your property. So as we go forward though this wind event, if additional evacuations are called for, it is going to be imperative, 100 percent, that people heed those and get out early."

Friday night's evacuations covered areas including Ida Clayton Road, Alexander Valley Road near Jimtown; Highland Ranch Road and areas around Asti, east of Highway 101; and rural areas between the fire and the Mendocino and Lake county lines.

Northern unincorporated Healdsburg has been under evacuation warning since Wednesday night, while warnings were issued Friday evening for the Cobb Mountain communities of Gifford Springs, Whispering Pines, Anderson Springs, Adams Springs, Hobergs and Cobb in Lake County, as well as those living on Ford Flat and Socrates Mine roads. Anyone who may need extra time to gather pets or pack essential items such as medications was encouraged to prepare in the event of a mandatory evacuation.

Already, about 2,000 people are under mandatory evacuation from Geyserville and rural communities around the Alexander Valley and up into the Mayacamas Range toward The Geysers geothermal fields, since the Kincade fire started Wednesday night.

As of Friday night, the wildfire remained just 5 percent contained and had grown slightly to 23,700 acres, expanding primarily on the eastern flank in rugged terrain, Cal Fire said.

Forty-nine structures have been destroyed, including what Sonoma County Sheriff Mark Essick said were 21 homes and 28 outbuildings, though Cal Fire and the county have just begun their formal damage assessment, Emergency Management Director Christopher Godley said.

In the meantime, the county emergency operations center was abuzz with preparations for weather conditions meteorologists are casting in "historic" terms, as the region's fuels reach their driest, most combustible point, with high sustained winds and extreme gusts on the horizon, as well as critically low humidity levels.

Fire officials said conditions could match or surpass those of October 2017, when multiple fire erupted in the North Bay, burning across Sonoma County and Napa counties, killing 40 people in the North Bay and burning more than 6,100 homes.

"If you look at the past three years, all of the large and damaging fires have occurred this time of year, during the offshore wine event period, and particularly during the red flag warnings," Cox said. "Although we've had minimal fire activity this year, all our fuels are now hitting that critical stage. You kind of compound that with the fact we're going to see a potentially historic wind event, it has us highly concerned that the vulnerable areas of California could see some explosive fires."

National Weather Service meteorologist Duane Dykema said winds this weekend would likely start ramping up between 9 p.m. and midnight Saturday, with strong, gusting conditions reaching their peak intensity around sunrise Sunday and persisting through about midday, so "the period of greatest concern is from about midnight (Saturday) through about midday on Sunday, that 12-hour period."

But unlike Wednesday, when the Kincade fire burst forth during a period of high, gusting winds, this weekend's high winds are expected to persist, lingering through Sunday evening and into Monday morning before subsiding, Dykema said.

They also will be felt strongly in the lowlands, so "it is unusual from that standpoint," he said.

The distribution and duration of the winds, Sonoma County Fire Chief Mark Heine said, "is one of the big reasons we're concerned about this, obviously."

He noted that after the Kincade fire started, fire crews attacked two other vegetation fires in Bennett Valley and the next day fought a 4-acre fire in Trione-Annadel State Park and another along Highway 101 in Rohnert Park.

With sustained winds, any one of those could easily get out of hand.

"What we need people to do is not use any mechanical equipment outside in the dry vegetation," Heine said. "No power tools. No lawn mowers. No weed wackers. No outdoor fire pits. Nothing that can ignite a fire in any way."

He also urged residents to secure or remove outdoor furniture or items that could become airborne and to be alert to falling limbs and power lines, and other items that could be blow down or aloft, and to take precautions with generators or candles — using battery-operated lights whenever possible where power is shut off.

More than 1,300 firefighters were deployed throughout the fire zone, supported by helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft, including air tankers and an air attack plane directing the action.

ire officials said they were hoping Friday to make substantial progress building control lines before the extreme winds ramp up Saturday night and into Sunday morning.

But by evening, the fire remained at 5 percent containment, the same level as 24 hours earlier, and was spreading east, threatening Knights Valley and Cobb Mountain. Cal Fire Operations Chief Tim Ernst said crews had held the blaze close to containment lines, with little growth, but, with the more active conditions on Friday afternoon, had not gained greater control.

"We would love to have it at 90 p ercent containment," Cox said, "but as you can imagine, when 10,000 acres burns in less than 1 2 hours, the number of miles of fire perimeter that are open on that are overwhelming, And although we have 1,300 firefighters 24 hours a day on the ground, and aircraft during the day flying this, the task is monumental."

Sonoma County Sheriff Mark Essick said at a Friday night news conference that his message to the public, "as we see this historic wind event coming at us," was this: "We would like you to stay home."

He and others urged residents to keep the roads clear for emergency vehicles unless they are evacuating and to remain vigilant, stay informed and stay in touch with each other and with their neighbors, especially those who may be older or infirm.

He also said that about 50 deputies were patrolling in the fire and evacuation areas, in large part to provide assistance and prevent looting.

But he noted several troubling incidents on Friday involving "aggressive people approaching some of our checkpoints."

"We want to reiterate that we need you to be kind with our first responders," Essick said. "Be patient with us. We're there to help you, keep you safe, keep you out of the evacuated areas."

Staff Writers Julie Johnson and Chantelle Lee contributed to this report.

Source: https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/10218637-181/cal-fire-mum-about-unconfirmed