Funny how the President doesn't say a thing about this......

Glass Fire grows to more than 36,000 acres, 0% containment

Amy Graff

The Glass Fire continues to burn a path of destruction through Sonoma and Napa Counties, tearing through a parched landscape and swallowing homes, wineries and resorts.

Preliminary reports Tuesday morning revealed the blaze that has once again thrown the North Bay into chaos isn't burning as actively as it was Monday morning when fierce winds whipped flames. But hot temperatures and low humidity are expected to hamper firefighter efforts this afternoon.

More than 68,000 people had been forced to evacuate across the Napa Valley and in Sonoma County by Monday afternoon, and just after 6 p.m. the entire town of Calistoga (pop. 5,000) was told to pack up and leave.

Some people were injured and Sonoma County sheriff's deputies had to rescue people who ignored evacuation orders, officials said.

Cal Fire said in its Monday evening update the fire had grown to 36,236 acres with 0% containment, more than tripling in size since Monday morning when it was about 11,000 acres. A preliminary report on damage revealed 113 structures have been destroyed; that number is expected to grow. The blaze continues to threaten 8,543 structures.

There was a bit of good news going into the evening with winds calming along the fire lines and slightly cooler temperatures and calmer conditions in the forecast Tuesday.

"Currently I'm sitting on Highway 12 and do not really see any movement in the trees," Cal Fire section chief Ben Nichols said in the evening press briefing. "... The smoky skies that we're under is a sign that there's not a lot of wind."

Nichols also said that firefighters "saved far more than they lost" in Santa Rosa, St. Helena and Calistoga Monday.

"It was a win overall," he said.

The Napa-Sonoma inferno began with the Glass Fire at 3:50 a.m. Sunday on the 200 block of North Fork Crystal Springs Road in Deer Park near St. Helena. Two more blazes sprung up — the Shady and Boysen fires — west of St. Helena Sunday night and quickly merged with the Glass Fire Monday.

This area about 45 miles (72 kilometers) north of San Francisco is once again facing devastation as it nears the third anniversary of deadly wildfires that erupted in 2017, including one that killed 22 people. Just a month ago, many of those same residents were evacuated from the path of the lightning-sparked LNU Complex that became the fourth-largest in state history.

“Our firefighters have not had much of a break, and these residents have not had much of a break,” said Daniel Berlant, assistant deputy director with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, known as Cal Fire.

Flames roared across hills Sunday into Monday, destroying several homes in eastern Santa Rosa's Skyhawk neighborhood including "at least a dozen homes on the stretch of Mountain Hawk between Brigadoon Way and Nighthawk Drive," according to the Press Democrat, which posted video footage on YouTube showing hot spots in Skyhawk.

The blaze jumped Highway 12 into Oakmont, triggering evacuations in the senior community.

"We had explosive fire growth of the Glass Fire as it was able to establish a foothold on the west side of the Napa Valley and burn approximately four miles during the course of about six hours overnight to where it finally ended up this morning in the community of Oakmont and trying to push into Annadel State Park," Cal Fire Chief Ben Nicholls said in a Monday press briefing.

Homes were destroyed and an elementary school severely damaged in Deer Park, the small community north of St. Helena. Nearby, flames engulfed the 40-year-old Chateau Boswell Winery and the Black Rock Inn on the Silverado Trail in St. Helena. Napa County Office of Emergency Services said 64 wineries sit within the evacuation or evacuation warning areas.

Sonoma County Supervisor Susan Gorin evacuated her property in the Oakmont community of Santa Rosa at about 1 a.m. She is rebuilding a home damaged in the 2017 fires.

Gorin said she saw three neighboring houses in flames as she fled early Monday.

“We’re experienced with that,” she said of the fires. “Once you lose a house and represent thousands of folks who’ve lost homes, you become pretty fatalistic that this is a new way of life and, depressingly, a normal way of life, the megafires that are spreading throughout the West.”

Gorin said it appeared the fire in her area was sparked by embers from the Glass Fire.

Ed Yarbrough, a wildfire evacuee from St. Helena in Napa County, watched firefighters douse flames across from his house Monday.

“I can see in the distance that it looks like it’s intact,” he said, but said spot fires were still being doused. “So I know we’re not really out of the woods yet, and the woods can burn.”