California wildfire: State-wide emergency called as huge blaze spreads

Healdsburg, California: California’s governor declared a state-wide emergency on Sunday as a huge wind-fuelled blaze forced evacuations and massive power blackouts, threatening tourist towns in the state’s famed Sonoma wine region.

The so-called Kincade Fire, north of San Francisco, spread to 12,000 hectares overnight, with only 10 per cent containment by early afternoon Sunday, state fire authorities said.

The blaze, the largest of more than a dozen wildfires burning throughout the state, has destroyed dozens of homes and wineries, including the iconic Soda Rock Winery built in 1869.

“We’ve seen the news. We are devastated,” the owners said in a Facebook message, adding that all staff at the winery were safe.

The Kincade Fire — the most devastating in California this year — ignited Wednesday and spread quickly thanks to powerful wind gusts up to 145 kilometers per hour.

Governor Gavin Newsom declared a statewide emergency on Sunday due to the “unprecedented” high winds that have led to the fires.

“We are deploying every resource available, and are coordinating with numerous agencies as we continue to respond to these fires,” Newsom said in a statement. “It is critical that people in evacuation zones heed the warnings from officials and first responders, and have the local and state resources they need as we fight these fires.”

An estimated 180,000 people were under mandatory evacuation orders, including parts of Santa Rosa and a large swath of Sonoma County all the way to the Pacific Ocean.

“This is the largest evacuation that any of us at the Sheriff’s Office can remember. Take care of each other,” the Sonoma County sheriff’s office tweeted.

Authorities said the area would remain under dangerous red flag conditions until Monday morning.

“Things will improve as we head into Monday and Tuesday but we need to be resilient as it looks like we have another north wind event, another dry event that is going to impact the region Tuesday night into Wednesday,” a spokesman for the National Weather Service told a news conference.

Thousands battle blaze

A fire official warned that should the flames continue spreading west and jump over a major freeway — the 101 — that could prove even more catastrophic as that region hasn’t had any fires since the 1940s.

“The fuels in that area are extremely dense, they are extremely old and decadent and they are extremely dry,” he said, referring to combustible material, including shrubs and trees that feed a fire.

More than 3,000 firefighters backed by air tankers and helicopters were battling to control the blaze, which was not expected to be contained before November 7, fire officials said.

Several other fires have erupted throughout the state in the last week, fueled by high winds, bone-dry conditions and temperatures in the 80s and 90s Fahrenheit.

One major fire — the Tick Fire — in the southern part of the state, north of Los Angeles, also prompted evacuations and destroyed a number of homes near Santa Clarita.

But on Sunday, most evacuation orders were lifted as some 1,000 firefighters worked to contain the fire that burned more than 4,500 acres.

In a bid to reduce the risk of fire, California’s largest utility, Pacific Gas & Electric Co., said it expected to turn off power to nearly one million customers across northern and central California.

“Winds of this magnitude pose a higher risk of damage and sparks on the electric system and rapid wildfire spread,” the company said in a statement. “The fire risk is even higher because vegetation on the ground has been dried out by recent wind events.”

PG&E has come under intense scrutiny after it emerged that one of its transmissions lines may have played a role in the Kincade Fire.

The same type of line was responsible for California’s deadliest wildfire ever — last year’s Camp Fire, which killed 86 people.

PG&E, which filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this year, has been blamed for several other fires in the state in recent years.

Newsom hit out at the utility earlier this week, saying he was infuriated that a state such as California — which boasts the fifth-largest economy in the world — had to endure blackouts.