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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
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Mario Koran in Oakland (now) and Joanna Walters in New York (earlier)

California wildfires: high winds fuel multiple new blazes in south – as it happened

So. Many. Fires.

It’s been a very busy day on fire-watch here in Oakland, with more than a half dozen fires igniting today alone. A notable day wasn’t completely unexpected, as southern California had been under an “extreme red-flag warning” for historically strong winds ripping across bone-dry vegetation.

Firefighters were quick to get a handle on some of the fires, but new ones continued to spring up even as responders worked to contain the last.

  • A blaze broke out in the northern Los Angeles suburb of Simi Valley early this morning, dubbed the Easy fire, which has threatened homes, forced evacuation orders, and inched closer to the Reagan Library. Sixty mph winds complicated efforts to beat back the blaze, at times scattering water aircraft tried to drop on the fire below. As of 1pm, the fire had mown through 1,300 acres and was only 5% contained.
  • The Getty fire that broke out yesterday morning near affluent sections of west Los Angeles is still burning, though it appears firefighters have made progress holding it back. The Laist says 745 acres and 12 structures have been burned but that it’s 27% contained.
  • The Hill fire, a fire that broke out around 11 in Riverside County and quickly grew to 200 acres is still going, though news reports are emerging that firefighters have halted its progress.
  • And life is slowly returning to normal, or at least not as chaotic, for portions of Sonoma county, as the sheriff lifted evacuation orders for much of the area and allowed residents to return to their homes. Sonoma county is home to the Kincade fire, the biggest of the most recent wildfires, which firefighters have finally been able to contain. As of this morning, almost 77,000 acres had burned but firefighters had it contained at 30%, Cal Fire reports.
The 10 Tanker Air Carrier drops Phos-Chek fire retardant on the Easy fire near Simi Valley, 30 October 2019.
The 10 Tanker Air Carrier drops Phos-Chek fire retardant on the Easy fire near Simi Valley, 30 October 2019. Photograph: John Cetrino/EPA

Updated

Blaze breaks out in Fullerton

Early reports indicate that a new blaze has broken out in Fullerton in Orange county, one of roughly a dozen new fires that have ignited today alone. Cal Fire hasn’t yet posted details on Fullerton fire, but we’ll bring you new details as they emerge.

Updated

The terror of a wildfire tearing through communities, consuming homes, is likely unimaginable for anyone who hasn’t lived through, or fled from one. And in the wake of a blaze, those stories abound.

But every once in a while a picture of humanity will emerge from the ashes — a kind of happy ending against a backdrop of destruction. We’ve seen a few of those this week already, as fires ignited up and down the state.

Stories like that of Rachel and James Page, a Windsor couple who on Saturday was forced to evacuate their Windsor home to flee the encroaching Kincade fire. Rachel, as it happened, was 39 weeks pregnant and experiencing signs that her coming-baby wouldn’t wait until Halloween, as expected.

The couple had planned to have the baby at home, but plans change. So they checked into a hotel in Napa outside of the evacuation zone, and with the help of mid-wives, Rachel gave birth to a healthy baby girl. Here’s from the story in the San Francisco Chronicle:

“She had a really gorgeous, beautiful, straightforward birth,” said Bee Lauher, a licensed midwife, who delivered the baby along with Napa Valley Midwives partners Heather Hilton and Kristina Parks, as first reported by the Napa Valley Register....

This isn’t the first time the Napa Valley Midwives have worked in a hotel during a crisis. In 2017, they delivered a baby at the Westin Verasa Napa with the Wine Country fires burning close by.

Sure, after the baby arrived, the couple got a call from the hotel desk informing them that guests had reported screaming, but they explained a baby had just been born and everything was fine.

Charming, too, are stories about volunteers who come together to rescue animals — like this piece today in the Los Angeles Times about a group that banded together to rescue horses today as the Easy fire burned a path through Simi Valley, north of Los Angeles.

Wrote LAT:

The equestrian community has consistently come together during fires. Volunteers often find people who need help through word-of-mouth or on social media, especially through a Facebook group called Southern California Equine Emergency Evacuation.

“People come from all over to help out,” Perera said.

Or the mysterious man who appeared unexpectly to rescue alpacas as the Kincade fire gained ground on the ranch.

Finally, we saw a great story emerge out of Los Angeles this week, where laborers showed up to tend the houses or yards of the affluent because their bosses had fled and neglected to tell them the neighorhood had flames breathing down on it and was under mandatory evacuation orders.

That, by itself, is a little depressing and maybe infuriating. Until you read tweets from the reporter who wrote the story and learn that after publication, a reader had reached out and offered to replentish the wages for the housekeeper who was more worried about losing a day’s wages than avoiding the fire. People can be cool, sometimes.

The rhythmic metallic clang of construction rang through the Santa Rosa neighborhood of Coffey Park, an area that should have been a ghost town.

But despite the heavy smell of smoke wafting in from the Kincade fire buring just miles away, and a mandatory evacuation order that included much of the city, work continued as usual on Monday for many of the city’s laborers yesterday morning.

In a story published today, the gifted Vivian Ho and I take a look at the those who stayed behind to work while thousands fled. For laborers and domestic workers, a day’s work can mean the difference between having money for food or not.

“We still need to make money,” landscaper Jordan Stokles told me, as he took off his hat and wiped sweat from his brow.

In a sad twist, many of the construction who stayed behind worked to rebuild the houses burned down by the devastating wildfire that tore through the same area two years ago.

“(Santa Rosa is) an agricultural community and everything is very time-sensitive when it comes to harvesting the crops,” Ariel Kelly, the chief executive of Corazón Healdsburg, told Vivian.

“We have those visa workers on temporary agricultural visas and they’ll be concluding their stay because this is the end of the season. There’s this concern that ‘if I don’t finish the job, I won’t get paid’…I know that after the first wave of evacuations happened last Wednesday night and a number of them were at our shelter, they were still leaving to go back to work.”

Updated

Hill fire in Riverside county fire quickly growing

The dynamic winds are creating a high-stakes game of whack-a-mole for firefighters in California. As firefighters made progress on what’s been the largest of recent fires, the Kincade fire, a growing list of blazes have kicked up in southern California, currently under an “extreme red-flag” warning for the gusting Santa Ana winds whipping across the region.

In Riverside county, the Hill fire that started just after 11 am had consumed 200 acres by 2 pm. The Riverside county fire department reported that the blaze is currently only contained at 5%. One person with minor injuries has been transported to a local hospital. One mobile home and one residential home have been damaged.

Mandatory evacuation orders have been issued.

Updated

Sheriff lifts evacuation orders for parts of Sonoma county

As the wind dies down and firefighters contain the Kincade fire, the Sonoma county sheriff is giving the greenlight for more county residents to return to their homes.

The evacuation orders have been lifted for four separate areas of the county, including the city of Santa Rosa, much of which had been under mandatory orders to leave.

The Kincade fire has been the biggest and most destructive of recent fires this season, burning nearly 77,000 acres and 206 structures over six days. Weakening winds offered a reprieve, and by this morning firefighters had been able to contain 30% of the fire.

My colleague Susie Cagle talked to some Sonoma county residents, still traumatized by a fire that devastated the area two years ago, who simply refused to leave their house, vowing instead to protect it from the flames.

Fire investigators meanwhile, are criss-crossing the county, assessing damaging and looking for clues as to which factors could best prevent, or at least resist, future fires.

Updated

New: Yosemite fire kicks up near Easy fire north of Los Angeles

A new fire, the Yosemite fire, has ignited near the area north of Los Angeles where authorities have already been working to extinguish the Easy fire, which ignited just after 6am today.

The fast-moving vegetation fire is spreading amid an “extreme red-flag warning” issued by the National Weather Service, an alert triggered by historic winds and bone-dry conditions.

Officials are expanding evacuaion orders as the fire moves. As of 1pm, about 7,000 homes 26,000 people were under evacuation orders.

Updated

Here’s a striking image from Los Angeles Times photographer Gina Ferazzi in Riverside county, where firefighters are battling the Hill fire that started this morning just after 11am and had chewed up 50 acres in about an hour, according to Cal Fire.

Updated

Easy fire north of Los Angeles continues to grow

Firefighters working the Easy fire north of Los Angeles are dealing with a growing blaze, a situation frustrated by fast-moving Santa Ana winds gusting across southern California.

The fire that ignited just after 6am had charred 1,300 acres by noon, threatening about 6,500, an untold number of animals, and the 125,000 square foot Ronald Reagan Presidential Library perched on a nearby hillside.

Ventura County Fire Capt. Steve Kaufmann told the Los Angeles Times that high winds were complicating efforts to contain the blaze, dispersing water dropped by aircraft before it reached the fire.

“The air assets are challenging at best,” Kaufmann said. “You can see a lot of the water that’s coming from the super scoopers is atomized because of the wind. It’s definitely makes it challenging for us.”

By around 12:30pm, the fire had moved west was encroaching on the Classic Equestrian Center.

Rounding up animals and moving them to safety has been a major component of evacuations, an effort made more difficult for large, less-mobile animals like cows.

One rancher staring down the Easy fire apparently enlisted the help of a photographer to evacuate his horses, who appears to have been happy to oblige.

Gusty winds fuel several new blazes

In addition to the Mureau brush fire that kicked up this morning just north of Malibu, a count one in southern California’s Riverside county and another to the north in Kern County.

The fire in riverside was reported at 7am, writes the Los Angeles Times. According to Cal Fire, five acres have burned, along with two vehicles and three buildings, and the fire is contained at 10%. LA Times says 119 firefighters have been dispatched to fight a blazed fueled by Santa Ana winds gusting up to 60 mph.

In Kern County, the area surrounding Bakersfield, a vegetation fire dubbed the Thief fire has burned about six to eight acres, but Kern county firefighters are holding the line.

New: Mureau fire ignites just north of Malibu

A small brushfire that officials are referring to as the Mureau fire has kicked up in Calabasas, an area just north of Malibu. It has grown to five acres and the Los Angeles fire department is telling area residents to be prepared to evacuated.

The Los Angeles Times reports that aerial video shows that the fire ignited in the area where the Woolsey fire took place last year, a burn that left a scar so deep that it’s visible from space.

Updated

California’s neighbors to the east are sending reinforcements to help the Golden State battle wildfires, reports the Associated Press.

Fire agencies in Montana are sending 20 engines and 72 firefighters to California while Idaho plans to send five fire engines and 17 personnel.

Currently more than 5,000 firefighters in California are working the wildfires.

Updated

Fire knocking on the door of the Reagan library

Fire has reached the doorstep of the Reagan library, as firefighters dig in to save the structure.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the fast-moving Easy fire, burning outside the library Wednesday morning, forced a number of people inside the structure to shelter in place:

Firefighters were at the facility prepared to provide structure protection. The flames were being held back by an aggressive ground and aerial attack on the ridges beyond Simi’s modern residential estates.

Helicopters repeatedly dropped loads of water behind the library in 60mph winds, turning the flames on the ridge 300ft below into smoke. Amid wind gusts strong enough to knock a person off balance, two super-scooper planes dipped down behind the library before unleashing such a volume of water it created its own rainbow.

Photographers on the scene have captured some remarkable images.

Updated

More than 1 million people in northern California were still without power on Wednesday as Pacific Gas & Electric initiated a new round of blackouts in 22 counties, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Parts of northern California, including areas just east and north of San Francisco, were spared from the blackouts after weather took a favorable turn. One area spared from an additional blackout was San Rafael, in Marin county, which on Tuesday morning was just blinking to life after a shutdown that lasted several days.

Residents there talked to me about the financial impact the blackouts would have on them and their families. Eddie, who works at a nearby restaurant, told me he had been out of work for four days after the lights went out at his place of business. He said the blackouts had affected the entire community and closed the grocery stores that were close enough for him to reach by foot.

“Schools have been closed. Nobody can go out and buy groceries. This area is really taking a hit and losing profit,” Eddie said.

Across the street from the transit station – where trains weren’t running thanks to the blackout – Colonial Liquor had just opened its doors after two days without power.

The man behind the counter, who declined to give his name, said: “I’m going to have to work for six months straight to make up what I lost.”

Bill Horton waited an extra hour for a bus to take him to his job in Petaluma because the trains weren’t running.

“I’ll be OK,” Horton said. “But so many of the people you see here riding public transit, they live pay check to pay check. They fight over those hours. They can’t afford to lose several days wages.”

Updated

Video: the moment the Getty fire started

The eucalyptus tree has been something of a menace in the history of California wildfires and has played a role in sparking the Getty fire in west Los Angeles, officials say.

Eric Garcetti, the Los Angeles mayor, said Tuesday that video footage shows a branch breaking off a eucalyptus tree and sparking the fire. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, which operates the lines, said the utility recently cleared away nearby brush to reduce the risk of fire, but the the branch came from outside the clearance area. The mayor called it “an act of God”. (The fact that the wind played a significant role in sparking the fire is a good illustration of why PG&E began shutting off power to begin with).

The Los Angeles Times published video of what is believed to be the moment the Getty fire started.

The eucalyptus tree isn’t native to California is actually considered an invasive species. Not only can the trees alter fire patterns and soil moisture, but eucalyptus oil is highly flammable and in some places have been known to explode when they catch fire.

That’s why efforts have been made in California to clear away the tress in an effort to reduce fire risk.

KQED published this explainer several years ago on the tree’s role in fires:

Fifteen major fires roared through 9,000 acres of the East Bay Hills between 1923 and 1992, incinerating some 4,000 homes and killing 26 people. The Oakland “Tunnel” fire, considered the worst in California history, caused an estimated $1.5 billion in damage, destroyed more than 3,000 homes and killed 25 people. Following the Oakland fire, disaster experts urged large landowners in the East Bay Hills to work together to manage vegetation to prevent another catastrophic wildfire, says Tom Klatt, who manages environmental projects for UC Berkeley and serves on the UC Fire Mitigation Committee.

In early October, when PG&E started shutting off power in the area around Oakland as a way to reduce the threat of fire, I visited the Oakland Hills neighborhood and spoke with one home owner who had lived through the devastating fire in ‘92 and rebuilt her home on the same spot. She’s made sure to clear away the Eucalyptus trees on her property since then, she told me.

Updated

Mario Koran here, picking up the fire-watch from my colleague Joanna Walters. I’ll be bringing you the day’s wildfire news. Let’s get right to it...

A fire burning in Simi Valley, a suburb north-west of Los Angeles, is currently burning out of control. By 9.15am, the blaze had been underway for three hours, the Los Angeles Times reports. Authorities have dubbed it the Easy fire.

Portions of Simi Valley and the surrounding area are under mandatory evacuation orders and local schools have been closed for the day.

Updated

Anger mounting over PG&E

Frustration and anger is building across parts of northern California as utility giant Pacific Gas & Electric has undertaken its third round of sweeping blackouts in a week.

The company is oping to prevent its electrical equipment from toppling or coming into contact with branches and sparking fires, amid fierce winds and bone-dry, tinderbox conditions.

PG&E said Tuesday’s power shut-offs would affect about 1.5 million people in some 30 counties including the Sierra foothills, wine country and San Francisco Bay Area.

They included 1 million still without power from a blackout over the weekend.

Across the darkened neighborhoods, people worried about charging cellphones and electric vehicles, finding gasoline and cash, staying warm and keeping their food from spoiling, the Associated Press reported a little earlier today.

Some ended up at centers set up by PG&E where people could go to power their electronics and get free water, snacks, flashlights and solar lanterns.

With no electricity for the fourth straight day, chef and caterer Jane Sykes realized she would have to throw out $1,000 worth of food, including trays of brownies, cupcakes and puff pastry. She also had little hope of getting a good night’s sleep there was no way to run the machine she relies on to counter her apnea.

“I don’t think PG&E really thought this through,” she lamented.
PG&E officials said they understood the hardships caused by the blackouts but insisted they were necessary.

In Sonoma county, fire officials reported progress in their battle against the 120-square-mile Kincade fire, the largest currently burning in the state, saying it was 30% contained. More than 150,000 people were under evacuation orders.

Winds are slower than southern California, but still fierce and the fire danger remains high.

Fighting the Kincade fire near Healdsburg, California, yesterday
Fighting the Kincade fire near Healdsburg, California, yesterday Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Updated

Act of God?

In southern California fire crews are busy not only dealing with the new Easy fire but also trying to snuff out fully the wildfire in the celebrity-studded hills of the Los Angeles metropolis that destroyed a dozen homes on Monday, the Getty fire.

About 9,000 people, including Arnold Schwarzenegger and LeBron James, were under evacuation orders from that fire.

The Getty fire was caused when a dry branch from a eucalyptus tree was flung 30ft by high winds early Monday into a city department of water and power line and caused sparks, authorities told the AP.

LA mayor Eric Garcetti called it an “act of God.” The city had cut away brush and trees from around the line.

Meanwhile the National Weather Service issued an unprecedented “extreme red flag warning” for high winds for much of southern California through Thursday evening, indicating the acute risk of fires being started by the dry, hot, windy conditions.

No deaths have been reported from the fires, but toppled trees have so far claimed three lives.

In northern California, the Kincade fire continues to burn, six days after it ignited.

A long exposure photograph shows a tree burning during the Kincade fire off Highway 128, east of Healdsburg, California yesterday.
A long exposure photograph shows a tree burning during the Kincade fire off Highway 128, east of Healdsburg, California yesterday. Photograph: Philip Pacheco/AFP via Getty Images

Updated

Some images of the Easy fire burning in California this morning:

A resident watches as the Easy Fire spreads in Simi Valley, north of Los Angeles, California Wednesday.
A resident watches as the Easy fire spreads in Simi Valley, north of Los Angeles, California Wednesday. Photograph: Étienne Laurent/EPA
A worker wets the ground of a ranch as the Easy fire spreads in Simi Valley Wednesday.
A worker wets the ground of a ranch as the Easy fire spreads in Simi Valley Wednesday. Photograph: Étienne Laurent/EPA
Residents evacuate horses from the Reagan View Ranch as the Easy fire spreads in Simi Valley Wednesday.
Residents evacuate horses from the Reagan View Ranch as the Easy fire spreads in Simi Valley Wednesday. Photograph: Étienne Laurent/EPA
The sun rises as the Easy fire spreads in Simi Valley Wednesday.
The sun rises as the Easy fire spreads in Simi Valley Wednesday. Photograph: Étienne Laurent/EPA

Updated

NBC Los Angeles has some good aerial footage of the Easy fire burning near Simi Valley.

And here are some initial details from area website LAist.

Updated

Here’s a brief clip of the wildfire, now dubbed the Easy fire, which broke out earlier today, burning near the Ronald Reagan presidential library.

And the Guardian video team in London has gathered some footage together of the California blazes.

Updated

Ronald Reagan presidential library evacuated

The new wildfire that broke out near Simi Valley, in southern California this morning has now forced the evacuation of the Ronald Reagan presidential library and nearby homes.

The brush fire started just before dawn in the Simi Valley area 20 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Ventura County officials did not immediately say how big it was or how many people were ordered to leave, the Associated Press reports.

Library spokeswoman Melissa Giller said the hilltop museum in Simi Valley was safe and being protected by firefighters.

She said hundreds of goats are brought in each year to eat away vegetation that could fuel wildfires on the 300-acre grounds.

Updated

Harris issues warning on Simi Valley fire

California Senator and 2020 candidate Kamala Harris notes in a tweet that schools are closed in districts nearest to the fire burning just outside Simi Valley in southern California, now labeled the Easy fire.

Updated

Simi Valley fire near the Reagan Library

In aerial shots of the Ronald Reagan presidential library, on the edge of Simi Valley, about 20 miles north-west of downtown Los Angeles, a line of flame can be seen in the vicinity – a new brush fire that ignited earlier today.

Areas around the library are under mandatory evacuation order, according to local media.

Simi Valley suffered a serious wildfire last fall, too.

Updated

Hurricane strength winds expected

Out of control fires still have an ominous grip on several parts of California and more than 20 million people are affected in the Golden State this Wednesday morning.

Firefighters – and there are more than 5,000 of them battling blazes in the northern and southern parts of the state – are worried about what the next 24 hours will bring.

The seasonal Santa Ana winds blowing down over southern California could be at their strongest for years and today and tomorrow are expected to be particularly dangerous.

There may be gusts up to hurricane strength (which means at least 74mph to register as Category 1 strength) and exceeding 80mph.

Those who evacuated when the Getty fire broke out west of downtown LA on Monday remain stuck away from home and there are fears that that fire could reignite and that embers blowing away will spark other fires.

In northern wine country, the Kincade fire in Sonoma county is burning into its sixth day today.

Updated

New wildfire in southern California

Good morning, wildfire watchers, everyone’s on edge today with the prospect of the seasonal winds being at their strongest, fanning existing fires and sparking new ones.

Power blackouts continue and there are official warnings out of extreme fire danger.

Here’s where we are as day breaks in California.

  • A new wildfire has erupted in southern California as strong Santa Ana winds blow down from the hills. TV images showed the fire burning before dawn today in Simi Valley, about 20 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles, the Associated Press reports this morning. The Ronald Reagan presidential library is in the vicinity.

  • Fire danger warnings blanket a large swath of California because of gusty winds and extremely dry air. The National Weather Service says Santa Ana winds developed more slowly than expected in southern California but strong gusts are topping 50 mph.
  • So far, the winds have stayed away from the section of Los Angeles that burned Monday in the Getty fire, where there’s concern that smoldering embers could be carried away by gusts and start new fires.
  • In Northern California, winds are beginning to decline, but forecasters warn that fire danger remains and the Kincade fire is still ablaze.
  • Utility company Pacific Gas & Electric is cutting power to about 1.5 million people in some 30 counties to prevent high winds from toppling power lines and sparking fires. It’s the third shutoff in a week.
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