Firefighters gain ground as hundreds flee homes
(07-02) 18:32 PDT NAPA -- About 1,000 firefighters slowed the advance Wednesday of a massive blaze that spilled across nearly six square miles north of Napa Valley's famed wineries, burning nine structures, including two homes, and threatening nearly 400 others.
But the explosive spread of the Butts Fire, which broke out Tuesday in rugged terrain west of Lake Berryessa, underscored widespread concern that the dry winter has the potential to fuel one the worst fire seasons in decades.
With rainfall at near-historic lows over the past 12 months - on the heels of two previous years with little precipitation - the forests and grassland of Northern California are exceptionally parched.
"No one can really remember it being drier than this," said Bill Stewart, a forestry specialist at UC Berkeley. "We're like two months drier than usual. This is like September, when everything is nearly bone-dry."
Amid the smoky haze that engulfed northern Napa County, hundreds of residents fled from rural Pope Valley not knowing what would come of their homes and community - and in some cases their pets and livestock.
"It's terrible trying to think what to take," said Beth Huckins, 54, who left the area with her husband, son, dog and a cat - but without the family's second feline. "I didn't know how much time I had."
She was alongside dozens who slept in cots outside the high school in Middletown (Lake County), where one of two evacuation centers had been set up for the displaced.
They could only watch while the golden hills of northern Napa and southern Lake counties darkened as flames charred ridgelines, scorched power lines and smothered trees.
Many more fires
Already this year, more wildfires have hit the state than usual. State firefighters, who battle the bulk of California's blazes, have counted 2,700 incidents between January and July - a 50 percent jump from the 1,800 wildland fires they respond to on average during the same period, according to state fire data.
Last month, an unusually early 2,600-acre blaze raged west of Kern County's Lake Isabella in the southern Sierra. In May, a series of conflagrations in San Diego County tore through some 14,000 acres, forcing more than 20,000 people to evacuate.
Normally, the fire season isn't in high gear until at least July.
In the Bay Area, 350 mostly small fires have burned this year. That compares to 225 on average during the same months, according to state data.
The Butts Fire, which grew to thousands of acres in a matter of hours, demonstrates just how much of a danger California's drought presents, fire experts said.
"This week's (hot) weather was not the factor that pushed this fire," said Daniel Berlant, a spokesman for the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, noting that temperatures in the Napa County hills were relatively mild, and winds light, when the fire started early Tuesday afternoon.Read my blog at http://eclecticarcania.blogspot.com/
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