Fires break out across Sonoma County
Fire destroyed neighborhoods from north Santa Rosa to the Sonoma Valley early Monday, as an estimated 10 fires burned destructive paths across the North Coast early Monday, driven by strong winds that for hours fueled the fires and forced entire communities to flee in the middle of the night.
Firefighters in Santa Rosa were short-handed in the face of an unrelenting blaze that started near Calistoga in Napa County and spread west, raging through hillside communities and into Santa Rosa, jumping across Highway 101 and into the northwest neighborhoods around Coffey Lane.
Other regional fires had already depleted regional fire resources, particularly a several hundred acre fire in Napa County, and local fire officials said they were urging state authorities to send more help. At least five fires in Sonoma, Lake and Napa counties were threatening residential communities, Cal Fire officials said.
“We’ve been wondering, ‘Where in the heck are they?’” Windsor Fire Chief Jack Piccinini said about 6 a.m. “I’ve asked, are units coming, and was told no, they’re going to the Atlas fire (in Napa County). That’s painful news to us. We’re still spread so thin.”
The sound of explosions, mostly bursting propane tanks, punctuated the rush as authorities raced to evacuate hospitals, senior centers and apartment complexes in northwest Santa Rosa while fleeing residents packed the roads.
Cal Fire Division Chief Greg Bertelli urged people close to the fire zones to err on the side of caution and evacuate early.
“Don’t try to stay and sit it out, it’s important to try to help each other and evacuate,” Bertelli said. “Life safety, other things can be replaced, but take yourself, your loved ones.”
The fire burning in Santa Rosa was just one of a series of wildfires burning through swaths of Sonoma, Napa, Lake and Mendocino counties, breaking out in a series starting about 10 p.m. Sunday.
“These blazes have taken place at an individual’s most vulnerable time, when they are home and in bed,” State Sen. Mike McGuire said.
The fire burning in Santa Rosa is believed to have begun late Sunday night near Highway 128 in Napa County and moved down Mark West Road toward Santa Rosa. The fire leveled entire blocks in the Fountaingrove area of Santa Rosa, where three-story homes were burning along Thomas Lake Harris Drive. The city’s new fire station in the area, Fire State 5, was destroyed.
The hills surrounding Santa Rosa glowed red early Monday and evacuees fleeing the fire clogged West College Avenue at 3 a.m., as officials opened additional shelters.
Multiple fires burning in densely populated areas at night propelled by winds gusting up to 50 miles per hour severely strained firefighters, McGuire said.
“Of great concern is Kenwood, Glen Ellen and greater Santa Rosa,” he added.
Darkness made it difficult to determine how many acres had burned and impossible to fight the fires from the air. McGuire said that hundreds of firefighters were en route from throughout the state and that aerial attacks would begin at first light, with winds expected to ease by 9 a.m.
In Kenwood, fire destroyed homes on both sides of Highway 12. Another branch of a wildfire was spreading from Geyserville and heading toward Cloverdale, Sonoma County sheriff’s spokesman Spencer Crum said.
“Up here in the hills, there is lots of fire, lots of smoke, and we have to be very careful we don’t get ourselves strapped,” Crum said. “There are a lot of one-way in, one-way out roads.”
In Santa Rosa, the fire burned through the Sky Farm subdivision above Santa Rosa’s Fountaingrove neighborhood and raced down the hill toward the Larkfield-Wikiup area. The fire tore through homes surrounding Cardinal Newman High School. Santa Rosa’s historic round barn, at the gateway to Fountaingrove, was also burned, as was the Journey’s End mobile home park to the north of Kaiser Permanente’s hospital in Santa Rosa and multiple homes along Hopper Lane.
No air support would be available until first light.
“It’s real bad,” Cal Fire Battalion Chief Marshall Tuberville said. “This is an example of nature in control, and we are doing what we can, but we’re not being that effective at stopping the fire.”
Wind-whipped fires burned into parts of Santa Rosa and the Sonoma Valley early Monday morning, destroying multiple homes in neighborhoods to the north and southeast of Santa Rosa.
Both Sutter and Kaiser evacuated patients from their Santa Rosa hospitals as the fire approached. Traffic was backed up at multiple intersections in the Larkfield and Wikiup areas. Many people had abandoned their cars in the streets to flee the flames.
UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy: