Posted on 10/09/2017 11:49:48 AM PDT by Freedom56v2
NAPA (CBS SF) — Wind-whipped wildfires roared to life Sunday night and early Monday across Wine Country, burning building, forcing evacuations and injuring several people.
The Atlas Peak fire was the largest of several wildfires, quickly growing to more than 200 acres near Napa. Meanwhile, the fire near Calistoga had burned several building and sent several people to the hospital to be treated for burns.
Cal Fire said firefighters were battling several blazes in Sonoma County. The largest was in the area of Porter Creek Road and Petrified Forest Road near Calistoga where mandatory evacuations were ordered for residents along Porter Creek, Petrified Forest, Franz Valley and Mountain Home Ranch Rd.
Early Monday morning, the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department said fires had erupted at Mark West Springs and Riebli roads in Santa Rosa, at Shiloh and Conde roads in Windsor and at Highway 116 and Fredericks Road in Sebastopol.
The fires had stretched Sonoma and Napa counties firefighting resources to the breaking point. A call for mutual aid was issued to other Bay Area fire departments.
(Excerpt) Read more at sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com ...
Firefighters keep working!#Sonomafires #Napafires. Thanks to the 8000 brave firefighters pushing limits: extreme fatigue & lack of resources! https://t.co/h6Mg8OU84t— Shuba V Raghavan (@ShubaRaghavan) October 12, 2017
Air quality in the region...not good.
What forms of warning were people given? TV, radio, social media, text messages, emergency warnings (same method as Amber Alerts)? Seems like the only type of warning system they didn’t have were warning sirens (like the kinds used for tornadoes).
http://www.fire.ca.gov/current_incidents
The huge fires around Napa and Sonoma, and there’s 6 or 7 of them, are at most 3% contained. Some of these fires are merging into even greater fires. These began Sunday night.
I don’t think we have ever seen anything like it. The inferno hit them in the middle of the night and when they stumbled outside they thought that North Korea must have hit them with a nuke because everything they could see was on fire. A lot of the missing people are going to turn out to have been incinerated in their homes, unable to flee.
Here is some “feel better news” :) Interesting article for wine lovers—and everyone else...Fire officials state that the open area and higher moisture of vineyards served as firebreak so firefighters could deploy elsewhere:) Photo & Video
Vineyards may have kept wine country fire from getting worse
Christian Palmaz used hoes, shovels and rakes to keep flames from his family’s 19th-century vineyard estate home on the flanks of Mt. St. George in eastern Napa County.
But he didn’t have to worry about his vines. They’re green, very much alive, and a stark contrast to more than 500 acres of oak, manzanita and grassland charred by the Atlas fire as it tore across Palmaz’s property.
Christian Palmaz used hoes, shovels and rakes to keep flames from his family’s 19th-century vineyard estate home on the flanks of Mt. St. George in eastern Napa County.
But he didn’t have to worry about his vines. They’re green, very much alive, and a stark contrast to more than 500 acres of oak, manzanita and grassland charred by the Atlas fire as it tore across Palmaz’s property.
More at article
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-vineyards-firebreak-20171012-story,amp.html
There were no warnings. The wind was blowing at 70mph Sunday night. In the middle of the night power lines began blowing down and that ignited the flames which spread incredibly fast. People lucky enough to wake up stepped outside to find everything they could see on fire, including their own houses. If they were lucky they were able to jump in their car and drive out through the inferno. People grabbed their neighbors and threw them in their cars. There are cars melted in the driveways. I think the death count is going to be high.
my sil’s brother lives just outside on Napa on the east...can’t get to his home...reports of lots and lots of looting...very scary...
I can’t imagine what looters would find other than ashes. A lot of these neighborhoods have nothing left but chimneys and the shells of cars.
Are officials trying to implement some kind of warning system(s) now?
People are looting?!? Savages!!! What could be left to loot anyway?
his home is threatened...they won’t let him get back to it, along with other threatened homeowners....they’re very susceptible to looters at this point..
There was a report on FOX radio at the top of the hour several hours ago. The son of the late Peanuts creator Charles Schultz reported that his late father’s home had burned down along with the memorabilia inside. Terrible.
http://www.fire.ca.gov/current_incidents
The huge fires around Napa and Sonoma, and there’s 6 or 7 of them, are at most 3% contained. Some of these fires are merging into even greater fires. These began Sunday night.
I don’t think we have ever seen anything like it. The inferno hit them in the middle of the night and when they stumbled outside they thought that North Korea must have hit them with a nuke because everything they could see was on fire. A lot of the missing people are going to turn out to have been incinerated in their homes, unable to flee.
Sounds like you are in the area...Hope you and yours are safe.
It is unfathomable rapidity of the fires’ path and the damage done in their wake. I too am fearful of the numbers when this is said and done. :(
Thoughts and prayers for the people in California wine country!
More on the scene account:
There were no warnings. The wind was blowing at 70mph Sunday night. In the middle of the night power lines began blowing down and that ignited the flames which spread incredibly fast. People lucky enough to wake up stepped outside to find everything they could see on fire, including their own houses. If they were lucky they were able to jump in their car and drive out through the inferno. People grabbed their neighbors and threw them in their cars. There are cars melted in the driveways. I think the death count is going to be high.
Just unfathomable the severity of the whole event!!
Don’t mean to be discouraging, but when you have this much going on with huge wild fires, it can take a long time to get the fires contained and put out.
Here in Arizona:
Rodeo-Chedeski Fire: 469,000 acres burned. Fire started by arson (a volunteer forest fire fighter hoping to get some work!!) and a stranded hiker signal fire; fire started on June 18 2002, wasn’t put out until July 7 2002.
Wallow Fire: 522,000 acres burned. Fire started by two idiots who didn’t properly put out their camp fire. Fire started on May 29 2011 and wasn’t put out until July 8 2011.
Fortunately nobody died because of these huge fires.
Yes, those are huge fires—glad no one died! And you are correct...it will take time especially if only 3% containment as Pelham has said. Another source said some were 10%, but that is not much better!
I’ve been tracking tanker drops on https://www.flightradar24.com/38.46,-122.72/11
Wildfires are usually out in the hills and only consume isolated structures and communities, but this one has ravaged one major town so far and is threatening others. I have at least three friends there, they’re all OK so far.
Fires started almost simultaneously along a huge corridor and at least some of it is being investigated as arson. There was one fire that was started by downed power lines in high winds, but that doesn’t explain fires from Willits down to Santa Rosa and then east to Napa all starting at once.
I’m hearing 3500 structures gone so far, 25 dead and 250 missing. This is bad.
I was born in Marin (just to the south) and went to Santa Rosa many, many times and I liked the place. Praying for the best.
Thanks for the link...had not seen that...
I agree it is unusual that the flat town areas had so much devastation and much of it simultaneously...Wonder if and when it will be investigated.
Glad your friends are OK.
It is bad...Keeping them all in my thoughts and prayers!
my sil’s brother lives just outside on Napa on the east...can’t get to his home...reports of lots and lots of looting...very scary...
Why can’t he get there—fire? road blocked with downed trees/wires? Police blocking?
Does he know when I might be able to return?
Hope he returns to find his home intact!
Have they accused Trump of neglecting California yet because it’s a Democrat stronghold? Have any Sanctuary Cities called out for federal assistance?
I've seen credible information from local news outlets (which I trust more than the agenda-driven Big Media Industry) that it already is being investigated as such. There has been one incident that I am aware of of multiple witnesses seeing a car pull over, someone get out and walk off into the brush and a few minutes later a new fire starts, same car, many spots, different witnesses. One group of witnesses ran into the brush and were able to put one out before it got big.
I don't care for conspiracy theories because they tend to be nonsense, but this one is being investigated by the Sonoma SO if I remember correctly.
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