Massive wildfires in Sonoma & Napa counties (CA)

[Buster28]

Multiple wildfires popped up overnight have have burned an estimated 70,000 acres in counties north of San Francisco. 1500 buildings have been lost (so far) in the fires, including within the city of Santa Rosa (where I used to live). Winds gusted up to 80 mph on the ridges last night, fanning the flames, but have calmed down today somewhat. Most of these fires are still at or near 0% containment. KGO-TV in San Francisco has been covering the story non-stop since 3:00 a.m. local time this morning. Reporters are going through neighborhoods in Santa Rosa and Napa that have been completely destroyed. Video from earlier today in Santa Rosa:



This is sadly similar to the Oakland Hills fire in 1991, which burned 3000 homes and killed 25 people. That was just a single fire, but was truly a firestorm. I can't imagine being in the middle of something like either one of these. The following video is from 1991:

 

[norcalcy]

Bad stuff. Nasty gusty dry winds out here yesterday. We need the rainy season to get here soon.

 

[NWICY]

Bad stuff. Nasty gusty dry winds out here yesterday. We need the rainy season to get here soon.

Norcal, are you out of the danger zone? Stay safe.

 

[The_Architect]

My favorite mom and pop winery had to evacuate their farm today as did some friends who live in Sonoma. Really sad.

 

[norcalcy]

Norcal, are you out of the danger zone? Stay safe.

We're good. Just getting smoke. Thinking of those affected and hoping for safety for everyone.

 

[cowgirl836]

so sad to see this, have a coworker out in that region but it appears she's safe.

 

[Buster28]

Not a whole lot of new information this morning. 10 confirmed fatalities so far. The fire in Santa Rosa appears to not be consuming any more of the city. The fire in the hills east of Napa is spreading over those hills and evacuations have begun in unincorporated areas just outside and to the west of Fairfield (Solano County), a city of about 110,000. The weather report for tonight doesn't look good - winds are expected to increase to around 30 mph and the humidity levels will drop. This likely isn't over yet.

Link to photos of the fire and aftermath around Santa Rosa (sorry for the click bait, but that's how SFGate operates):

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Fires-Napa-Santa-Rosa-Wine-Country-before-after-12265098.php

 

[BoxsterCy]

Here's a link to an interactive image on LA Times where you slide across before/after. Pretty dramatic.

http://www.latimes.com/la-me-santa-rosa-slider-20171009-htmlstory.html

 

[Ficklone02]

Yeah I woke up yesterday morning and could smell the fire through my window. Cars on the street here had small bits of ashes on them.

Shows the incredible scale of these fires because we live in the City, which is approximately 100 miles south of wine country.

 

[SantaRosaCy]

We live in Santa Rosa and were surrounded by flames Sunday night. The sky was orange; one of the eeriest things I have ever seen. So far our house has been sparred, but many friends were not so fortunate. There are areas of town that literally look like the pictures of Hiroshima from WW2. The smoke and air quality is horrible, and so far over 75K acres burned with basically zero containment. The shelters are all full; I can't tell you how horrific the carnage is, and it's a long ways from over. Just a perfect storm of extremely dry conditions, low humidity and wind gusts up to 70 mph. Sunday night the constant explosions from propane tanks, transformers, car tires was just surreal. Let's pray they get this under control soon.

 

[Rural]

Bad stuff. Nasty gusty dry winds out here yesterday. We need the rainy season to get here soon.

Got a story on my phone that says too much rain caused this.

 

[BoxsterCy]

We live in Santa Rosa and were surrounded by flames Sunday night. The sky was orange; one of the eeriest things I have ever seen. So far our house has been sparred, but many friends were not so fortunate. There are areas of town that literally look like the pictures of Hiroshima from WW2. The smoke and air quality is horrible, and so far over 75K acres burned with basically zero containment. The shelters are all full; I can't tell you how horrific the carnage is, and it's a long ways from over. Just a perfect storm of extremely dry conditions, low humidity and wind gusts up to 70 mph. Sunday night the constant explosions from propane tanks, transformers, car tires was just surreal. Let's pray they get this under control soon.

Hope you stay safe. I haven't been out there in decades, so long ago the wedding reception I was at was at the now defunct Piper-Sonoma Winery.

It's eerie looking at some of the after pictures and seeing green landscaping remaining because it was the flying embers ignited the houses and not direct fire from trees/shrubs. In the dense urban areas the houses became the fuel. How much of the fire resistant codes apply to areas not rated as high hazard? Not that I understand all of the ratings/zoning but most of Santa Rosa wasn't zoned high hazard (correct?), not that it matters once parts get on fire with that kind of wind. Like you said, perfectly bad conditions.

 

[norcalcy]

Got a story on my phone that says too much rain caused this.

Partially true. Vegetation grows in the rainy season, and we had lots of rain last winter so more vegetation. But there's no avoiding the fact that this is a Mediterranean climate where basically the rain spigot shuts of in May and doesn't turn back on until October/Nov. Fire danger is always highest this time of year and it burns not only the annual vegetation but pine trees, oak trees, perennial native shrubs etc. Throw in really bad north winds like we had over the weekend and one little spark can cause a lot of trouble. A good widespread soaking rain is needed to wet down the dry vegetation and get some new vegetation growing. But the cycle repeats itself every year across the entire West. Most places out here just don't get those regular refreshing summer thunderstorms that keep things green and lush.

 

[Buster28]

Got a story on my phone that says too much rain caused this.

(Was typing and looking at articles at the same time as NorCalCy above.) Yes. It was an exceptionally wet winter, which usually means abundant water for a long spring growing season in undeveloped areas. Once the rains stop, usually in mid-spring and lasting up to 6 months or more on average, the plants grow until the water is used up, the vegetation dries out and becomes fuel for wildfires. It doesn't take a lot of spark to start a small blaze which can quickly grow. Throw in some high winds in the fall and very low humidity (running between 10-20%), and you've got a whole lot of trouble brewing.

I hope everyone on CF who lives in the area stays safe and does not lose property or belongings.

Below is a link to an article with a map of all the current active northern California fires. You can zoom in to see more detail on exactly where stuff is happening, for those familiar with the area:

http://www.sfchronicle.com/north-bay-fires/

 

[Buster28]

Most recent article/update on the fires: more evacuations in Santa Rosa, now on the east and southeast sides of town; evacuations in the north half of Calistoga. The winds keep switching directions and picking up speed, creating a lot of chaos, making predictions even more difficult. The rest of Calistoga has been advised to have their bags packed and be ready to get out. These Napa and Sonoma fires are still 0% contained, according to fire officials.

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Thousands-more-evacuated-as-Wine-Country-blazes-12269691.php

 

[Buster28]

Calistoga spent its second day as a virtual ghost town. Evacuation orders for the entire city were issued Wednesday afternoon. It sits at the base of Mt. Saint Helena, much of which has had or still has fires on the slopes.

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Fewer-than-20-residents-remain-in-Calistoga-as-12274222.php

Number of fatalities has risen to 31 on Thursday, 17 in the Santa Rosa area alone. Several hundred people are still listed as "missing." Over 2800 homes destroyed in JUST Santa Rosa since Monday morning. The home where Charles M. Schulz lived (and where his widow still resided) burned also. Fortunately, much of his original works were in his museum farther south into town, but there was still much history and work that was lost. Schulz's widow made it out before the fire swept through and is ok.

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Live-updates-Death-toll-climbs-to-29-in-Northern-12274332.php

 

[wxman1]

A podcast that I listen to interviewed the pilot of the CHP aircraft that was one of the first if not the first to spot and report the fire. They discuss that day as well as their response and the following days.

http://aviationnewstalk.com/