A new brush fire erupted north of Los Angeles Thursday night, quickly growing to 750 acres. Firefighters raced to battle the Maria Fire, which began at approximately 6:30 PT, CBS Los Angeles reports.
Earlier in the day, two fast-moving wildfires exploded in Southern California, fueled by powerful Santa Ana winds. One of them, the Hillside Fire in San Bernardino, east of Los Angeles, prompted mandatory evacuations and destroyed at least six homes. Some residents refused to leave.
From CBS News
Latest updates:
Kincade Fire in Northern California: 76,825 acres burned; 60% contained
Easy Fire in Southern California: 1,723 acres burned; 10% contained
Getty Fire in Southern California: 745 acres burned; 39% contained
46 Fire in Southern California: 300 acres burned; 15% contained
Hillside Fire in Southern California: 200 acres burned; 50% contained
Maria Fire in Southern California: 750 acres burned
About 53,000 homes and businesses are still affected by Pacific Gas & Electric’s power shutoff after it cut electricity to millions of customers in an effort to prevent new blazes
The 46 Fire in neighboring Riverside County has burned at least five structures. Investigators said it began at the end of a police chase, when a stolen car barreled through fences into a large open field, damaging its tires and disabling the car. Heat from the car’s wheels apparently ignited a fire under it that engulfed it and sparked a vegetation fire in the field. The car’s two occupants of the car tried to flee on foot but were caught, police said. All evacuation orders related to the 46 Fire were lifted Thursday night, according to Cal Fire Riverside.
Crews faced a major battle Wednesday in Simi Valley, northwest of Los Angeles, as they took on another blaze — the Easy Fire. The flames came dangerously close to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and nearby neighborhoods. About 30,000 people were forced to evacuate.
Follow below for live updates
A firefighter sprays down the smoldering remains of a burning home during the Hillside Fire in the North Park neighborhood of San Bernardino, California, on October 31, 2019.JOSH EDELSON/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Maria Fire burns through 750 acres
A new brush fire erupted in Southern California Thursday night, CBS Los Angeles reports, quickly growing to encompass 750 acres. The Maria Fire is located on the top of South Mountain near Santa Paula, an hour north of Los Angeles.
Firefighters responded to the blaze around 6:30 p.m. PT. Evacuations were ordered for homes near the south end of the fire.
The House passed legislation Wednesday that would ban mining near the Grand Canyon, a move designed to counter any efforts by the Trump administration to bolster the uranium industry by mining on federal lands.
The bill, which passed 236-185, would make permanent a mining moratorium on more than 1 million acres in northern Arizona surrounding the iconic national park.
Democrats see the bill as a vital step toward protecting sensitive habitat near the Grand Canyon from the “imminent threat” of mining. But Republicans argued the bill would stifle economic opportunities for the rural areas of the state.
Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee and author of the legislation, said plans to jump-start mining in the area are “not theoretical and not trivial.”
“These critical protections are under threat from the Trump administration under the guise of energy dominance and fabricated arguments of national security they’ve continued to push for these lands to be opened to exploitation on behalf of a few wealthy mining interests,” he said Tuesday during House floor debate.
Grijalva’s bill, the Grand Canyon Centennial Act, does not have companion legislation in the Senate, and the White House issued a veto threat, saying the administration opposes “such a large, permanent withdrawal, which would prohibit environmentally responsible development.”
Democrats have argued the U.S. does not need to tap into U.S. uranium reserves since many imports of the mineral come from allies such as Canada and Australia.
“National security experts said this fear mongering about supplies is based on fantasy,” Grijalva said Tuesday. “We shouldn’t be mining for uranium around the Grand Canyon. Period.”
Republicans argued that Democrats have been exaggerating the risks to the Grand Canyon.
They unsuccessfully fought to delay enactment until the Department of the Interior issued a report concluding that such enactment would not increase imports “from hostile countries like Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Namibia.”
Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) said much of the land that would be protected isn’t close to the park.
“This bill is very cleverly named to make it sound like it’s safeguarding the Grand Canyon, something I believe we all support,” Westerman said on the House floor Tuesday. “But when we look at what it does, we quickly see it has very little to do with the Grand Canyon. Instead, it’s a federal land grab that would lock up approximately 1 million acres of land in northern Arizona and permanently ban mineral development.”
Two fires east of Los Angeles, others still burning or smoldering
The Hillside fire in San Bernardino has so far forced the evacuation of 490 homes and approximately 1,300 people, with the fire at 200 acres and growing.
In neighboring Riverside County, evacuation orders were issued for homes around a 75-acre fire in the city of Jurupa Valley, the AP reports.
Three residences and two outbuildings were confirmed destroyed by the county’s fire department. That fire came after another fire Wednesday in Jurupa Valley forced the evacuation of two mobile home parks and a psychiatric nursing care facility, before the spread was stopped.
“There was one moment when I could see nothing but dark smoke and I was like, ‘We’re going to die,’” said Qiana McCracken, assistant director of nursing for the Riverside Heights Healthcare Center.
After the Easy fire broke out early Wednesday near Simi Valley, northwest of LA, 30,000 people had to evacuate, although some were allowed home last night.
Crews remained at the scene, near the undamaged Reagan presidential library, which is now like an island in a soot-black sea, spokeswoman Melissa Giller said.
Nearby residents had little time to heed evacuation orders yesterday.
Resident Elena Mishkanian was able to gather only some basics. Her son, Troy, 13, netted six pet fish from a tank and put them in pots.
Frightened horses screamed in a nearby barn as Beth Rivera used a garden hose to water down the edges of her home, and friends helped evacuate 11 horses.
Utility Southern California Edison filed a report with state regulators to say the Easy fire began near its power lines. Electrical equipment has sparked some of California’s worst wildfires. SoCal Edison has so far not cut power in the area.
Pacific Gas & Electric, cut power to millions in northern California in the last week, but damaged power lines may still have started the Kincade fire in Sonoma county.
The latest report this morning is that the Kincade fire is now 45% contained.
This undated handout image courtesy of NASA and taken by astronaut Andrew Morgan aboard the International Space Station, shows smoke from the Kincade fire in Sonoma county, northern California. San Francisco is to the left. The Kincade fire has damaged 120 square miles. Photograph: Andrew Morgan/NASA/AFP via Getty Images
Second new wildfire breaks out east of Los Angeles
While the new Hillside fire is burning in a northern part of San Bernardino, there is also a fire now burning less than 20 miles away in Jurupa Valley, in Riverside county.
There was a fire in Jurupa Valley yesterday but now another one has broken out, the Associated Press indicates. This is all happening 50 to 60 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, in southern California.
You can check out all the Guardian’s coverage, with news reports, live blogs and comment pieces from the last few days and beyond, by clicking on our California page and taking your pick of stories from our ace reporters on the spot out west as well as top opinion-formers and experts such as Rebecca Solnit and Bill McKibben, discussing issues such as the habitability of the state and the unavoidable role of the climate crisis in the worsening wildfire events.
The Santa Ana winds have been peaking in this 48-hour period and hopefully will tail off tonight.
“This is the last event in our near future. We are not expecting any Santa Anas next week,” weather service meteorologist Kristen Stewart told the Associated Press. But she noted the forecast only extends out seven days. “Once we get past that, all bets are off.”
A resident named Doug Mac watches as flames from the Hillside fire consumed a residence in San Bernardino, California earlier today. Photograph: Noah Berger/AP
San Bernardino fire spreading fast
The National Weather Service warns that southern California is still at an extreme risk of fires starting and spreading all day today and into the evening.
The fire that broke out in a northern section of San Bernardino overnight is said to be spreading rapidly. Here is some citizen footage from the early hours.
Evacuations were ordered in the middle of the night in San Bernardino.
Multiple homes were burning in the San Bernardino area after a brush fire ignited early on Thursday and quickly grew to engulf 200 acres, the latest eruption of wildfire in California.
Firefighters got the call about a brush fire near Highway 18 shortly after 1 a.m. local time, according to Chris Prater, a spokesman for the San Bernardino County Fire Department. Strong winds have pushed the blaze into northern San Bernardino.
Homeowners in the area saw orange flames lighting up the hills around the northern edges of the city in the early morning hours, and then cascading down to threaten neighborhoods to the west of Highway 18. Hundreds of homes there have been evacuated.
The highway, which connects the city of San Bernardino with the mountains to the north, was closed because of the fire, according the California Highway Patrol.
“It’s very fast-moving,” Mr. Prater said of the blaze, named the Hillside fire. “We do have very strong winds coming out of the north-northeast, facilitating the fire spread.”
An earlier blaze, the Old Water fire, swept through the area last week. This week, dry conditions and low humidity were making the Hillside fire difficult to fight, Mr. Prater said. “We’ve had these winds for the past few weeks, and it’s dried out the fields.”
Another fire in Jurupa Valley, just southwest of San Bernardino, grew to cover 150 acres on Thursday morning, damaged at least three structures and prompted evacuation orders for about 2,000 homes, said Jeff LaRusso, a spokesman for the Riverside County Fire Department.
The energy company is set to acquire a significant interest in 1,100-megawatt wind farm
The wind farm in which PSEG is set to acquire an interest is expected to be commissioned in 2024.
TOM JOHNSON reports for NJ Spotlight – OCTOBER 30, 2019
Public Service Enterprise Group is looking to get back into offshore wind, and will enter into exclusive negotiations with Ørsted to acquire a one-quarter interest in its yet to be built 1,100-megawatt wind farm off Atlantic City.
The $1.6 billion Ocean Wind project is the first offshore wind farm approved in New Jersey. Located 15 miles off Atlantic City, it is projected to supply more than a half-million homes with power. The wind farm is expected to be commissioned in 2024, subject to permitting and other factors.
The two companies’ announcement late in the day was a bit of a surprise, considering PSEG and Ørsted had previously disclosed the former had an option to buy an equity interest in the wind farm project this spring.
In a joint press release, the companies appeared to indicate the process of negotiations might be far along, although an Ørsted spokesman declined to confirm that this was the case.
“Given PSEG’s track record for success and history providing energy solutions for communities across the Mid-Atlantic region, we are thrilled at the prospect of having them join the Ocean Wind project,’’ said Thomas Brostrøm, president of Ørsted North America and CEO of Ørsted U.S. Offshore Wind.
Ørsted has emerged as the biggest force in the nascent offshore wind market in the United States, operating the first offshore wind facility in the country off Block Island in Rhode Island. It also has been awarded commitments to build more than 2,900 MW of capacity in six other projects along the Eastern Seaboard.
“We are pleased about the opportunity to explore a partnership with Ørsted, a world leader in offshore wind development, and help New Jersey achieve its goal of carbon-free generation by 2050,’’ said Ralph LaRossa, president and chief operating officer of PSEG Power, a subsidiary of PSEG.
Offshore wind is a key, if not most crucial component of Gov. Phil Murphy’s goal of converting to a clean energy economy. By 2030, the administration wants to build 3,500 MW of offshore wind off the Jersey coast.
PSEG changes tack
At one time, PSEG appeared poised to be a big player in the offshore wind sector, cementing a partnership more than a decade ago with developer Deepwater Wind, which Ørsted acquired a year ago. When former Gov. Chris Christie’s administration backed away from promoting offshore wind, PSEG seemed to steer away from the sector.
After the Deepwater acquisition, it was disclosed that PSEG had agreed to provide Ørsted with energy management services, which included allowing the Danish developer to lease land for use in its project development. The lease is expected to provide land around PSEG’s three nuclear units in Salem County to assemble the huge turbines for the wind farms.
In a quarterly earnings call this spring, PSEG CEO Ralph Izzo talked more about the company’s interest in building transmission for offshore wind, instead of developing the wind farms offshore. Nevertheless, PSEG, more than any other power company in the state, has embraced the Murphy administration’s goal of transitioning to 100% clean energy by 2050 and has the financial resources to commit to that target.
The announcement also came on a day when Ørsted shares dropped 8% after the company announced long-term production values from its offshore wind farms may have miscalculated how much power they could produce.
“Today’s announcement is unrelated to our announcement updating our long-term financial targets,’’ said Cam Stoker, a spokesman for Ørsted.
PSEG did not respond to calls for comment.
Clean energy advocates were not surprised by the announcement. “This is the epitome of ‘if you can’t beat them, join them,’’’ said Doug O’Malley, director of Environment New Jersey. “This is a sign that offshore wind is no longer a niche market.’’
Paul Patterson, an energy analyst with Glenrock Associates who follows PSEG, however, cautioned PSEG will likely be very conservative in its investment in offshore wind. “It is a lot different kettle of fish than building on land for wind energy,’’ he said.
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As whipping winds exacerbate raging wildfires across California on Wednesday, a new brush fire in the southern part of the state triggered mandatory evacuation orders in the area surrounding the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Ventura County.
The blaze, dubbed the Easy Fire, temporarily encircled the pavilion that houses Reagan’s Air Force One, which flew him to 26 countries, said John Heubusch, executive director of the Reagan Library. But firefighters were able to keep the fire at bay despite gusts that reached upward of 50 miles per hour, leaving scorched hillsides in its wake.
“The fire literally ringed the Reagan Library — the worst is behind us now, for sure, but it was a pretty dangerous situation,” Heubusch said, adding he hopes to reopen the museum Thursday. “It came right up against the Air Force One Pavilion.”
The Easy Fire began around 6 a.m. on hillsides above Simi Valley, and it rapidly spread to nearly 1,300 acres in just a few hours, triggering evacuation orders that forced 26,000 residents from their homes. The blaze is spreading amid dangerous weather, with humidity plunging into the single digits as winds gust above hurricane force. Simi Valley is about 40 miles from downtown Los Angeles.
“Unfortunately it was the worst time it could happen; 40 mile an hour sustained winds and fuels that were ripe and ready to carry fire,” Ventura County Fire Chief Mark Lorenzen said during a news conference.
“Fortunately for us and the community, we were prepared,” he added.
Large swaths of the state remained under “red flag” warnings Wednesday — indicating that bone-dry conditions paired with strong winds created large areas at high risk for dangerous wildfires. The Storm Prediction Center warned again of “extremely critical fire weather” throughout Southern California. Parts of Northern California, including the North Bay mountains, were expected to see “widespread critical fire weather.”
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The worst kind of weather for wildfires — strong, gusty winds and very low humidity — is returning on Tuesday after a relative respite on Monday, the National Weather Service said, raising the prospect of more fire outbreaks and rapid growth of the blazes that are already burning.
The agency has posted “red flag” warnings for most of Northern California and much of Southern California, taking effect at various times on Tuesday.
Forecasters are predicting winds between 50 m.p.h. and 70 m.p.h. in Los Angeles County and Ventura County starting late Tuesday and continuing on Wednesday and Thursday, with some gusts up to 80 m.p.h. in the mountainous areas of Los Angeles County, the National Weather Service said. The scale for Category 1 hurricanes begins at 74 m.p.h.
Winds gusts of up to 60 miles an hour could be expected beginning in the morning over a vast stretch of the state from the Sierras to the Pacific and from the southern fringes of the Bay Area north nearly to the Oregon border, except for coastal areas north of Sonoma County.
The winds, known as Santa Anas in the southern part of the state and Diablos in the north, arrive regularly in the fall. Recent research suggests that as the climate warms, Santa Ana winds may become less frequent. Coupled with precipitation changes, that could mean more intense fires later in the year.
Red-flag weather has played an important role in driving the growth of the Kincade, Getty and other fires, and has prompted pre-emptive blackouts by utility companies hoping to keep wind-damaged power lines and equipment from touching off more blazes.
[The New York Times has photographers on the ground, documenting the California wildfires and the battle to contain them. Follow their work here.]
The Kincade, which has been active for five days, has burned through 75,000 acres and is 15 percent contained on Tuesday afternoon, officials said. Two firefighters were injured while battling the blaze, one of whom was airlifted to the University of California, Davis hospital for treatment of serious burns. The firefighter was in stable condition, the authorities said.
Evacuees and residents will also have to face freezing temperatures overnight Tuesday in the inland valleys, the National Weather Service said.
Maps show where the fires are burning now.
We’re continuing to update our page of maps showing the extent of the fires, power outages and evacuation zones. Data from Cal Fire shows how the Kincade fire in Northern California has spread and where it is burning most intensely. Satellite images pinpoint the Getty and Tick fires and affected areas nearby.
California fires: a helicopter drops water on the Getty fire spreading in the hills behind the Getty Center in Los Angeles. Photograph: Étienne Laurent/EPA
The Getty fire was caused by an ‘act of God.’
The Getty fire, which has prompted the evacuation of more than 7,000 homes in Southern California, started when a branch broke off a tree and hit nearby power lines — an accident that Mayor Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles called an “act of God.”
The power lines began to spark and ignited nearby brush, Mr. Garcetti said at a news conference on Tuesday afternoon. He said investigators have not found any evidence that faulty equipment started the fire.
The fire has burned at least 650 acres and was 15 percent contained, broke out shortly after 1:30 a.m. Monday along the major freeway known as the 405, near the Getty Center. It quickly spread through neighborhoods north of Brentwood, destroying 12 homes and damaging five more.
The authorities determined the cause in part after seeing dashcam footage that showed an explosion on the side of the road early Monday morning, Mr. Garcetti said.
Earlier Tuesday, Mr. Garcetti thanked residents who had remained away from their homes in the evacuation area. He said that firefighters had extinguished some flare-ups, and he warned that higher winds expected in the evening could pick up embers from the fire and deposit them on houses in the evacuation area, possibly igniting them while residents who did not evacuate were sleeping.
That danger was reiterated by Fire Chief Ralph M. Terrazas, who said that hot embers have been known to carry for miles on the wind. “Our goal today is to increase containment as much as possible,” he said, adding that he was “very concerned about tonight’s wind event.”
PG&E will compensate customers for an earlier blackout.
Pacific Gas and Electric said on Tuesday that it would issue rebates to customers affected by the intentional blackout that began Oct. 9, addressing a request made repeatedly by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
The rebate, $100 for residential customers and $250 for small businesses, is a one-time adjustment tied to the power cutoff, which was carried out as a fire-prevention measure and left 738,000 customers in the dark.
No decision has been made about rebates for subsequent outages, including one imposed over the weekend and another wave that began Tuesday morning.
Bill Johnson, PG&E Corporation’s chief executive officer, said the utility recognized that mistakes were made during the intentional blackouts that began Oct. 9 and decided to accept the governor’s request to issue the rebates after “we finally had enough time to think about it with our board.” He said they are reviewing how they will handle issuing the rebates.
Mr. Johnson said he currently has power but that some executives and employees do not.
“The large-scale shut-offs are not the way we want to serve customers,” Mr. Johnson said. “We know this disrupts people’s routines and ways of life. But losses from catastrophic wildfires are forever.”
On Saturday, PG&E cut power to 970,000 customers — the equivalent of almost three million people — as high winds blew across Northern and Central California, with gusts in some places reaching 102 miles per hour. Of those customers, the company said, about 400,000 remained without power on Tuesday and may not regain it before the new round of blackouts hits their areas.
PG&E said about 597,000 customers would be affected by the outage that began Tuesday as more fierce winds moved through the state. The conditions were expected to continue through midday Wednesday.
Overall, PG&E had restored power to 650,000 customers by 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday. About 435,000 customers remained without power, including 16,000 from weather-related outages.
Even with the power cutoffs this month, the utility’s equipment is a suspected cause at least four wildfires, including the Kincade fire in Sonoma County.
Evacuees slept in their vehicles in a parking lot in Santa Rosa, Calif., early Tuesday.Credit…Eric Thayer for The New York Times
After the Tubbs fire, ‘a lot of us still had PTSD.’
Karen Orlando, a real estate agent, said the evacuations and blackouts prompted by the Kincade fire have startled residents in Sonoma County who are still working to rebuild after the Tubbs fire in 2017.
“It was really traumatizing, what happened in 2017, and that scar was just starting to heal. Now it’s been completely reopened,” Ms. Orlando said.
Investigators believe they know what caused the Getty fire: video shows a eucalyptus branch falling on a power line operated by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.
As a reminder, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power DOES NOT shut off power during heavy wind events like Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison.
Officials downgraded a mandatory evacuation order issued to a small portion affected by the Kincade fire to just an evacuation warning.
The National Weather Service issued a new warning today: the Extreme Red Flag Warning, for a high-wind event taking place in much of Los Angeles and Ventura counties through Thursday evening.
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Residents near California wildfire urged to be ready to “go at a moment’s notice”
CBS News reports:
Latest updates:
Kincade Fire: 76,138 acres burned; 15% contained
Getty Fire: 656 acres burned; 15% contained
A major wind event is expected at 11 p.m. local time Tuesday night, which could spark new fires or hamper existing suppression efforts
PG&E President & CEO Bill Johnson said PG&E workers have faced verbal and physical attacks
People in Northern California’s wine country were warned Tuesday they may need to leave “at a moment’s notice” as powerful winds threaten to bring more devastation to areas already ravaged by wildfires. Crews battling the massive Kincade Fire fear the wind could fan the flames.
The wildfire has burned an area more than twice the size of San Francisco and destroyed nearly 60 homes. Six days after the fire first ignited, firefighters were scrambling to put out hot spots in hopes of getting an upper hand before wind gusts reaching as high as 50 mph kick up again.
In Southern California, where high winds fueled the Getty Fire in the early morning hours, authorities are manning their fire lines with additional personnel. Gusts are predicted to reach up to 80 mph Tuesday night.
A firefighter pulls a hose along Chalk Hill Road as he battles the wind-driven Kincade Fire in Windsor, California, October 27, 2019.REUTERS/STEPHEN LAM
Three reports of looting in Northern California as Kincade Fire grows
Officials in Northern California have received three additional reports of looting as the Kincade Fire rages, Sonoma County Sheriff Mark Essick said at a Tuesday press conference. The looting was discovered when residents returned to their homes and businesses and found items missing. No arrests have been made.
“The Sheriff’s Office is doing everything we can to get you back into your homes,” Essick said. “We realize the anxiety there.”
Three people were arrested earlier in the week for unauthorized entry into evacuation zones.
The Kincade Fire grew to 76,138 acres by 6:30 p.m. local time, said Cal Fire representative Jonathan Cox. Some 189 structures were destroyed, 86 of which were single-family homes.
The blaze was still only 15% contained. Cox said that after the major wind event predicted for Tuesday night subsides, he expects containment to rise.
PG&E workers facing threats, assault during fire prevention efforts
PG&E employees have been subject to verbal and physical assaults while working to prevent wildfires, PG&E president and CEO Bill Johnson said at a press conference Tuesday.
“Our employees in the field have repeatedly been the targets of misguided attacks, verbal abuse, threats, physical assault, and even weapons,” Johnson said. “Today, one of our PG&E employees, driving a PG&E vehicle, was intentionally run off the road by an angry motorist.”
“The men and women of PG&E you see in your community are there for a single reason, and that is to help you,” Johnson added.
The company announced Tuesday that it is launching another preventative blackout ahead of a major wind event expected to begin Tuesday night. The blackout will impact an estimated 597,000 customers.
At the press conference, PG&E chief meteorologist Scott Strenfel warned residents about the expected high winds and low humidity.
“These are conditions that yield dangerous fire weather and potential for significant fires,” Strenfel said.
Getty Fire caused by tree branch hitting power line
The Getty Fire began when a tree branch was blown into a power line, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said at a Tuesday afternoon press conference. Garcetti emphasized that the fire was accidental, and not caused by faulty equipment.
“We have concluded … that this fire started when a tree branch fell on power lines, causing them to spark and begin this fire,” Garcetti said. Garcetti added that he saw dashcam footage showing what he believes to be the moment the fire began.
“This was, simply put, in plain parlance, an act of God,” Garcetti said. “The wind broke off the tree branch, threw that tree branch, because of the strong winds, far enough to cause a spark off a line that’s still intact there.”
Investigators from the Los Angeles Fire Department’s (LAFD) Arson-Counterterrorism Section analyzed burn patterns, interviewed witnesses, and gathered physical evidence. The group determined that the fire likely originated on the 1800 block of North Sepulveda Boulevard, although it’s unclear who owns the property where the fire began.
LeBron James, Guy Fieri, and John Cena pitch in to help first responders
Celebrities including LeBron James, John Cena, and Guy Fieri have pitched in to help the first responders battling the blazes across California.
After the Getty Fire forced LeBron James to evacuate, the Lakers star sent a taco truck to feed first responders in Los Angeles, according to Mayor Eric Garcetti.
In Northern California, celebrity chef Guy Fieri served up lunch and dinner for Sonoma County firefighters, County Supervisor James Gore said on Facebook.
And on Monday, John Cena tweeted a video in which he pledged to donate $500,000 to a charity that will benefit first responders.
“This is the right thing to do and I am doing my part to help the cause,” Cena said in the video. “I wish everyone the best of luck, please stay safe and you are our heroes.”
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