Mass evacuation continues
AP Photo by Noah Berger
By Courtney Teague, Lea Donosky, Derek Hawkins and Kayla Epstein for the Washington Post – Oct. 27, 2019, at 4:10 p.m. EDT
California’s governor declared a statewide emergency Sunday as wind-fueled fires spread across Sonoma County and prompted mass evacuations.
Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) pledged to deploy “every resource available” as authorities fought blazes on both ends of the state and weather conditions threatened to exacerbate fire threats.
In Sonoma, one of the largest evacuations in the county’s history was underway as ferocious winds and dry air fueled a wildfire that has raged in the region for days. The county sheriff’s office estimated that 180,000 people had been ordered to flee the Kincade Fire, which has spread to 30,000 acres and was only 10 percent contained. Officials rapidly expanded the number of areas under mandatory evacuation orders in the early hours of the morning as gusts as high as 93 mph swept through the hills and valleys north of the San Francisco Bay area.
California Wildfire Update from earlier today
The fires outside of Healdsburg, Calif., appeared to rapidly intensify overnight, according to the National Weather Service, turning State Route 128 into a hellish gauntlet and consuming the local Soda Rock Winery, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
In a flurry of predawn alerts, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office told residents in the northern portion of Santa Rosa, as well as areas southwest and northeast of the city, to evacuate immediately. About 200 patients were evacuated from two medical centers in the area, Kaiser Permanente and Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital, and relocated to safer facilities, according to hospital and local fire officials.
Patricia Blanchard said she lost power Saturday night around 8 p.m. Saturday in her small town of Monte Rio. The outage was soon followed by a visit from a Sonoma County deputy who ordered her to leave immediately. She left her ID and credit cards behind in the rush.
The fires outside of Healdsburg, Calif., appeared to rapidly intensify overnight, according to the National Weather Service, turning State Route 128 into a hellish gauntlet and consuming the local Soda Rock Winery, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
In a flurry of predawn alerts, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office told residents in the northern portion of Santa Rosa, as well as areas southwest and northeast of the city, to evacuate immediately. About 200 patients were evacuated from two medical centers in the area, Kaiser Permanente and Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital, and relocated to safer facilities, according to hospital and local fire officials.
Patricia Blanchard said she lost power Saturday night around 8 p.m. Saturday in her small town of Monte Rio. The outage was soon followed by a visit from a Sonoma County deputy who ordered her to leave immediately. She left her ID and credit cards behind in the rush.
From CBS News:
Kincade Fire: 180,000 under evacuation orders in Sonoma County
From USA TODAY
Double-whammy: Amid blackouts, massive fire forces nearly 200,000 to flee homes
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