Three million people across 38 counties in California are expected to lose power as wildfires rage in the state. As of Sunday morning, this includes close to two million people in the Bay Area. Nearly two hundred thousand people are under evacuation orders. To be clear, there are actually two wildfires raging simultaneously in the south and north of the state. Sunday morning, a third fire erupted in the Bay Area.
Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has declared a statewide emergency as of Sunday afternoon.
First, in the Sonoma County region (which, for those unfamiliar with the state, is wine country), there’s the Kincade Fire. While Kincade began on Wednesday, close to 90,000 people were told to evacuate from the area on Saturday, leading to congested travel paths. NBC Bay Area reports that it’s the largest evacuation in Sonoma County’s history.
In Southern California, Los Angeles is threatened by smoke (and flames) from the Tick Fire, originating north of the city in Santa Clarita. Los Angeles county also got a state of emergency after the Tick fire burned roughly 4,300 acres. As of Sunday afternoon, the Tick Fire is reported as 65% contained.
The Golden State is dry and windy. Which, unfortunately, is a perfect storm for these wildfires to spread. Between Kincade and Tick, the fires have burned an estimated 35,000 acres. While it’s gotten less coverage, just below the southern border in Mexico, there are also large fires.
Power company Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) began shut-offs around 5 p.m. on Saturday in Northern California and then moved its way down the state. The company says customers should expect power outages to last for 48 hours or more.
Why is the power shut off important? Cutting off powerlines is a preventative measure—high winds could take down power lines, which could lead to fires. Given that these wind gusts are reaching 90 miles per hour in some areas, they’re no joke.
According to the National Weather Service, the Kincade fire is only 11% contained. It’s burned close to 26,000 acres at the time of the report on Sunday morning. In its release, the National Weather Service blames “very gusty winds” for the “critical” to “extreme” weather threat today. These winds are expected to stay active through Monday morning.
Newsom declared a state of emergency for Sonoma County this Friday. He promised to hold PG&E responsible, though it’s unclear what that involves.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, as well as the Sonoma County Sherrif’s Office, told residents in and around Santa Rose to evacuate immediately. This included, specifically, people in the northern part of Santa Rosa, in addition to those in the southeast and southwest surrounding the city.
An estimated 175,000 people reside in Santa Rosa. While not every single person has been ordered to evacuate, that’s still a huge number. That growing number also puts a strain on emergency response employees who need to help people and animals evacuate safely.
Here are some videos from both fires:
And here are the high winds that have people worried in San Fransisco:
And last but not least, another fire broke out this morning. In the latest update, two brush fires (also known as grass fires) erupted in Vallejo, a city outside of San Francisco. The two fires erupted Sunday morning, causing Interstate 80 on the Carquinez Bridge to shut down. The local campus, California State University Maritime Academy, is evacuating.
As videos show, the fire and smoke moving toward the freeway is pretty terrifying.