State fire officials announced Friday morning that “encouraging” progress was made overnight in controlling several deadly wildfires burning in Northern California, but winds are expected to kick back up later today, and they cautioned full containment is at least a week away.
At a news conference late Friday morning, state officials said thousands of firefighters had been deployed to the main fire lines during the previous 24 hours, allowing for crews to establish some containment around the blazes after days of limited progress.
The Tubbs Fire, which so far has claimed the lives of 18 people in Sonoma County, jumped from 10 to 25 percent containment overnight, according to Cal Fire. State fire officials estimate the blaze, which has burned 34,770 acres, will be fully contained Oct. 20.
Fire crews also made progress battling the Atlas Fire, as containment increased from 3 to 27 percent. The Atlas Fire is burning in Napa and Solanocounties.
“The emergency is not over,” said Mark Ghilarducci, director of the state’s Office of Emergency Services. “We are seeing some great progress in some of the areas the fires have impacted.
“It’s the sixth day of these fires. We are still at it, full tilt.”
On Friday afternoon, the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office issued a new mandatory evacuation orders for portions of Geyserville north of Highway 128 from Geysers Road to Chalk Hill Road. “You need to evacuate now due to fire,” the department told residents in an email.
The number of people killed in the wildfires burning in Northern California increased to 33 on Friday with reports of a ninth death in Mendocino County and the 18th fatality in Sonoma County. There have also been four deaths in Yuba County and two others in Napa County.
While Cal Fire ranks the deadliest fires in modern history by singular events, the multiple fires burning at the same time combine as the deadliest.
Considered together, the 17 Northern California fires raging this week have now claimed more lives than the 1933 Griffith Park fire in Los Angeles, which killed 29, and the 1991 Oakland Hills fire, where 25 perished.
With 256 people still reported missing in Sonoma County, law enforcement officials fear those numbers may increase.
“We’re certainly continuing to work closely with the local sheriff’s departments to drop that number down,” Ghilarducci said, speaking about the number of people still missing. “The fact is it will remain a concern until every last person is accounted for.”
The string of wildfires has burned more than 212,000 acres in Northern California and destroyed an estimated 3,000 homes.
Santa Rosa lost 2,834 homes and approximately 400,000 square feet of commercial space, and Mayor Chris Coursey expects the numbers to grow. Friday, Coursey said 5 percent of the city’s housing stock was destroyed in the fire.
“I keep getting asked about what’s next,” Coursey said. “What are we going to do to rebuild? It’s a tough question. We’ve lost almost 5 percent of the housing stock in Santa Rosa. We’re looking at least $1.2 billion for the damage in Santa Rosa alone.”
Wind gusts could create issues for firefighters beginning Friday afternoon. The National Weather Service has issued another red-flag warning for the North and East Bay hills, saying low humidity and high wind gusts will create high fire danger.
Cal Fire Chief Ken Pimlott said the red-flag warning is not just for Northern California, where 17 large fires are still burning as of Friday, but in Southern California, from Santa Barbara to Orange County.
“We are watching carefully the wind conditions and it’s a concern of ours,” Ghilarducci said.
Friday morning, officials in Napa County dispelled rumors that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will be targeting people at shelters.
Napa County spokeswoman Kristi Jourdan said Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Napa) received a commitment from U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement to suspend “routine immigration enforcement operations in the areas affected by the fires in Northern California, except in the event of a serious criminal presenting a public safety threat.”
“We do not want anyone sleeping in their cars,” Jourdan said. “We do not want anyone in harm’s way. We do not want anyone to fear leaving their home because you do not have a place to stay.”
The tales of this week are growing increasingly tragic. As the Redwood Valley fire swept through Mendocino County, the Shepherd family hurried to escape, first by car and then foot when the vehicles caught fire. Kai Shepherd, a 14-year-old who loved the San Francisco Giants and wrestling, did not make it out alive, his aunt Mindi Ramos said.
“The firestorm washed over them,” Ramos said.
His sister, Kressa, was so badly burned her legs were amputated below the knee at a Sacramento hospital where her mother, Sara, was also being treated. Jon Shepherd, Kai’s father, remains at a burn center in San Francisco, Ramos said. The family’s Redwood Valley home on West Road is gone.
“He could just see into people’s hearts, you know?” Ramos said of Kai. “He was a very sweet, loving, beautiful boy. It’s going to be a long road.”
In Sonoma County, sheriff crews and cadaver dogs combed through rubble and charred remains, targeted searches of missing persons. The grim task of identifying the dead could take weeks or months, officials said. Some bodies already located “were nothing more than ash and bones,” Sonoma County Sheriff Rob Giordano said. One identification was made through an ID number on a prosthetic hip replacement.
“That is what we’re faced with in this fire,” Giordano said.
By Thursday evening, officials said they had identified 10 of the 17 dead in Sonoma County.
Sonoma officials received 1,000 reports of missing persons, some duplicates, and by Thursday afternoon 603 people had been located, leaving 400 missing. With evacuees scattered throughout the Bay Area and beyond, the sheriff said damaged communication towers could be one reason people cannot reach relatives.
Of 77 cellular towers damaged, 69 were restored as of Friday, state officials said.
Air quality remains a concern Friday throughout the region, as several schools and colleges closed and for a third day San Francisco International Airport canceled flights. Roger Gass, a meteorologist with the weather service, said there might be periods of better air quality through Sunday, followed by stretches of poor air quality.
“The reality is we’re not going to see a strong onshore flow that will push smoke out of the area at least through the weekend,” Gass said.
Staff writers David Debolt, Jason Green, Lisa P. White and Mark Gomez contributed to this report.
