Sonoma fire: Containment at 30% amid final round of winds for week

CALISTOGA, Calif. — Firefighters have battled three major bouts of winds that fiercely pushed back their efforts to get a handle on the flames in the massive Kincade fire, but they’re now facing an easier road.

Containment of the fire, which grew slightly to 76,825 acres, doubled overnight to 30% as of Wednesday morning, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

“The eastern part of the fire was active overnight, but firefighters continued to make forward progress as a whole,” even amid the final strong wind event of the week, according to fire and weather officials.

Tuesday night, winds in high terrain reached 60 mph, and in the valleys where the fire is burning, winds blew up to 30 mph, said Spencer Tangen, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. By Wednesday morning, the winds had already begun to slow.

“We’re not expecting another wind similar to what we’ve seen, at least until mid next week,” Tangen said. That will likely help firefighters continue to make progress.

Jonathan Cox, a Cal Fire spokesman, said Tuesday that firefighters were bracing for a challenging evening.

“If we are looking good as far as fire growth this time tomorrow morning, I feel like that cautious optimism will be solidified,” he said. “If we’re not, if we have explosive growth tonight, we have our work cut out for us.”

The outcome was in their favor, likely because gusts in the valleys near where the Kincade fire was burning were not as strong and this wind event was weaker than previous ones overall, Tangen said.

Despite the fire’s massive scale and the large number of structures that have been damaged — 94 homes have been destroyed — there have been no deaths reported in the blaze. Fire officials say that’s partly because of a proactive approach and vast evacuation zones that have taken many out of harm’s way.

Because the heavy winds were widely anticipated and the fire started in a less-populated area, crews had much more time than during the 2017 Tubbs fire to evacuate people and get prepared, even with the looming blackouts, authorities said. Strike teams were already in the area around the Kincade fire before it broke out, allowing for a swift response.

Cox said fire crews, in anticipation of the coming blackouts, tried to get people evacuated this weekend before the power went out.

“Firefighters are very good at operating without power,” he said. “A lot of times, we ask for it to be closed down on fires to minimize the risk. … I think, for us, it kind of reinforces the message that early evacuation is so important because of the potential that you may not have power later down the line.”

Even as Pacific Gas & Electric Co. has implemented shut-offs to prevent additional fires, Northern California continues to see small fires exploding throughout the region. The utility revealed Monday that its equipment malfunctioned near two fires that broke out in Contra Costa County on Sunday afternoon, and the California Public Utilities Commission announced it would investigate how PG&E handles its shut-offs.

Pacific Gas & Electric notified 540,000 customers their power could be shut off Tuesday and Wednesday. Thanks to favorable weather conditions, the utility did not end up shutting off power to Humboldt and Siskiyou counties. PG&E is still monitoring weather conditions in Alameda, Contra Costa, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and San Mateo counties.

But for thousands more whose power has been shut off, the last several days have been challenging.

Heidi Santos lost power at her home over the weekend.

The mother of two was camped out at a resource tent stationed outside a Catholic church in St. Helena on Tuesday morning while her 8- and 10-year-old children played at a nearby Boys and Girls Club. As it happened, the tent where she charged her cellphone was provided by PG&E.

Without electricity, Santos couldn’t cook for her young son, who is allergic to a long list of foods — soy, eggs, gluten, almonds and fish.

What was in her refrigerator had long since spoiled, and Santos’ only option now was buying food from restaurants or non-perishable items from the market. To make matters worse, she hadn’t worked in two days because the home where she worked as a housekeeper had been evacuated.

In Calistoga, a family that lost four homes on its compound to the 2017 Tubbs fire and was under a mandatory evacuation again, was packing up Tuesday afternoon. But not all were leaving.

Denise Drawski, who lives on the family compound, said she thought the power had gone off on Saturday — or maybe it was Sunday. She couldn’t remember exactly.

“We’ve gone without power three out of seven days every week for the last few weeks, so I kind of lose track,” Drawski said.