California wildfires more than double in size and force, degrading air quality; tens of thousands evacuate

Evacuations surged Thursday as authorities worried that high heat and gusty winds could cause the fires to spread rapidly. By midday, several of the major fires had more than doubled in size, in some cases jumping across major highways, as crews struggled to contain the blazes.

The fires have been blamed for at least 5 fatalities.

Many of the fires began days ago, as a heat wave and an unusual series of storms produced more than 20,000 lightning strikes. The resulting fires - and "complexes" of many small fires - have merged into major conflagrations in many parts of the state.

Officials have urged everyone in California to prepare a bag filled with a change of clothes and necessities, and to be ready to evacuate their homes on a moment's notice.

This is just the beginning of the state's wildfire season, something that has been a constant threat during the past four years of record-setting blazes, both for their breadth and their lethality. Despite the familiarity, the current fires and their speed and thick smoke have presented a new terror amid a global pandemic - poor air quality, concerns about evacuating masses of people to crowded shelters, and concerns that some might not heed the warnings.

And the fires, spread across hundreds of miles, have presented an overwhelming challenge to the crews trying to battle them as California has issued a nationwide call for help.

Arjun Mendiratta has lived in La Honda, Calif., for two years, in a small community surrounded by tall trees south of San Francisco in the Santa Cruz mountains. He and his wife packed their 1½-year-old son in the car Wednesday night and drove to Half Moon Bay, a town on the coast, where they stayed in a hotel for the night. Already packed, they decided to leave their home after receiving an evacuation warning message as fires approached; they did not want to wait for a full evacuation order and risk getting caught in traffic.

"We thought, 'Let's just go while we can,' " Mendiratta said, noting that not all his neighbors plan on leaving, hoping better weather will come before the flames do.

In San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties, where La Honda is located, about 48,000 people were ordered to evacuate because of a fire threatening communities there, part of the CZU Lightning Complex. The blaze had already burned 50 structures, fire officials reported. On Thursday evening, the University of California Santa-Cruz was under a mandatory evacuation and had declared a state of emergency.

Tens of thousands of people have been asked to evacuate, having to make difficult decisions about where to go. In the past they might have stayed with friends or family, but now they need to calculate the risk of exposure to the novel coronavirus.

And wherever people go, they are likely to face other hardships. California has been enduring a record-breaking heat wave that has prompted rolling blackouts because of high electricity demands for air conditioning and other uses. And most of the area is experiencing severe or moderate drought.

The largest of the lightning-related fires was north of San Francisco, covering Napa and Sonoma counties. On Thursday that mass of fires, called the LNU Lightning Complex, had grown to 137,475 acres and was just 5 percent contained, according to CalFire. Approximately 30,500 structures were at risk of burning.

The blaze near Vacaville, known as the Hennessey Fire and part of the LNU Lightning Complex, has been one of the most destructive, burning down homes and claiming the life of a PG&E worker who was assisting first responders. This same blaze burned down the La Borgata Winery and Distillery in Vacaville. Mandatory evacuations remained in effect for the north part of the city Thursday.

"The public needs to be prepared and have a plan and have a go bag," said Brice Bennett, public information officer for CalFire, the state's firefighting agency. "This is showing us we can have wildfires anywhere."

CalFire is at normal staffing levels, with approximately 11,000 firefighters working on Thursday, Bennett said. The state has asked for 375 fire engines from out of state for help, in part to give current units a chance to rest.

In Central California, a pilot on a firefighting flight near Fresno died when his helicopter crashed, and the National Transportation Safety Board is investigating.

California has trained volunteer inmates to fight wildfires as part of its Conservation Camp Program, which was started during World War II. The inmates train and live in camps across the state, but because of covid-19 the number of available volunteers is down. There are usually 2,200 inmates qualified to fight fires on the front lines in the camps, but now the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation says there are just 1,659.

"The decrease in conservation camp population is attributed to a combination of expedited and standard releases," said Aaron Francis, a spokesperson for CDCR.

CalFire says it anticipated the impacts of covid and hired additional firefighters ahead of the wildfire season.

The effects of covid and the wildfires are tangled in other ways. Smoke from the fires is a complicating factor, as it and the virus can attack the lungs and could have a greater impact on people with certain preexisting health conditions. The massive blazes are sending plumes of smoke and ash into the skies surrounding populated areas, including San Francisco, fouling air quality for hundreds of miles.

"We're very worried about that combination this fire season, about wildfire smoke exposures and a raging pandemic," John Balmes, a medical professor at the University of California San Francisco and a member of the California Air Resources Board.

Bay Area residents for months have been told that outdoor spaces are safer than being indoors during the covid-19 outbreak. Now, they're being asked to stay indoors if possible.

The cloth masks that have now become habit for many Californians when they venture outside are largely ineffective against the tiny smoke particles filling the air, Balmes said. Balmes and other UCSF doctors recommend finding N95 masks with vents, since they're not in demand by health care workers, or even trying used N95 masks.

He recommends people shelter in place, staying at home with their windows closed and ventilation systems set to recirculate air. Staying indoors with windows closed is a big ask during a heat wave, especially in areas like San Francisco, where many people do not have air conditioning.

Here are key figures on the latest blazes:

- The LNU Lightning Complex in Sonoma, Lake, Napa and Solano counties has burned over 131,000 acres, up from 46,000 acres Wednesday, and is 0 percent contained. This complex includes the Hennessey Fire, which has charred 100,000 acres in Napa County. It has destroyed 105 structures and threatens 30,500 more.

- The CZU August Lightning Complex in Santa Cruz and San Mateo counties has burned 40,000 acres, up from 10,000 acres Wednesday, and is 0 percent contained. It has burned 20 structures and threatens 8,600 more. About 20,000 people have been evacuated.

The SCU Lightning Complex of about 20 fires, affecting locations in Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa, San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties, has consumed over 137,000 acres, up from 85,000 acres Wednesday, and is 5 percent contained.

The River Fire in Monterey County has consumed more than 33,000 acres, up from 10,000 acres Wednesday, and is 7 percent contained.

 

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Red flag warnings, signifying dangerous fire weather, were discontinued Thursday afternoon where the most intense blazes were burning in central and northern California.

However, the National Weather Service in San Francisco cautioned conditions remained dry. In its Thursday morning forecast discussion, it said humidity levels were running higher compared Wednesday, "a welcome sign," but expressed concern about an incoming sea breeze intercepting the active fires. "This wind may push the fires as they are experience their peak explosive growth during the late afternoon to early evening, bringing brief but potentially erratic and dangerous growth," it wrote.

Critical fire conditions are not forecast for California on Friday but conditions will remain dry in many areas allowing fires to linger.

Late in the weekend, the forecast office in San Francisco wrote Tropical Storm Genevieve, located near the Baja Peninsula, could release a pulse of moisture and instability to increase the potential for more lightning "that may lead to further ignitions."

Smoke will remain a persistent issue because of the ongoing fires, "so air quality will be a real problem through at least the end of the week," the Sacramento office wrote.