Good Weather, Reinforcements Aiding Battle to Control Huge Bay Area Wildfires

Firefighters hard-pressed by some of the largest wildfires in California history scrambled Wednesday to take advantage of cooler weather and an influx of aid as they carved and burned containment lines around the flames to prevent more land from burning.

Progress was made on three major sets of fires around the Bay Area, with firefighters slowly increasing containment of the blazes, and authorities making plans to allow tens of thousands of residents to return to their homes.

“Every percent of containment is hours and hours of sweat and blood up on those lines,” Jonathan Cox, a deputy chief with Cal Fire, said Tuesday evening.

Since Aug. 15, hundreds of lightning-sparked fires across California have scorched some 1.3 million acres, an area about the size of Delaware.

The blazes have killed at least seven people, burned about 1,700 homes and other buildings, and forced roughly 170,000 residents to evacuate.

The massive fires across the state — coming much earlier in the season than expected — have pushed crews to the breaking point, with more than 14,000 firefighters battling the blazes while continuing to deal with COVID-19 complications that are preventing inmate crews from assisting on the frontlines.

With limited crews to tackle fires on the ground, the state has been relying more on bulldozers, aircraft and firefighters from other states and the federal government, Cal Fire said.

About 300 National Guard troops were finishing firefighter training and were expected to be on the lines Wednesday as another 300 begin four days of training, said spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Shiroma.

The spread of the fires, which started as clusters of lightning-sparked blazes last week, slowed down at lower altitudes as a morning marine layer — an air mass drawn from the ocean by intense heat on land — brought cooler temperatures and higher humidity.

“The return of the marine layer has been a welcomed one," the National Weather Service said early Wednesday.

The cooler air, however, didn’t reach the higher forest and rural regions that are full of heavy timber and brush.

Billy See, the incident commander for the CZU August Lighting Complex of fires that have burned more than 80,000 acres in San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties, urged residents to be patient.

“When the smoke starts to clear, all the residents get very restless about trying to get back in and wanting to know when the evacuation orders and warnings will be lifted," he said.

Authorities were working on a strategic plan for repopulating areas after ensuring that conditions were safe and that water service and electrical power would be available, he said.

Latest Developments

When separate fires are burning near each other Cal Fire often calls them "complexes." There are three such massive groups of fires currently burning in and around the Bay Area:

• LNU Lightning Complex: Sonoma, Napa, Solano, Yolo, Lake counties (including the Hennessey, Gamble, Walbridge, Meyers and Green fires)
• SCU Lightning Complex: Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa, San Joaquin, Stanislaus counties (including fires in the Deer, Calaveras and Canyon zones)
• CZU August Lightning Complex: San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties (including the Warnella, Waddell fires)

LNU Lightning Complex

• 24-hour information line: 707-967-4207
• Cal Fire incident information page
• Cal Fire LNU Twitter Feed
• Cal Fire evacuation information

Click on each of the following links to see each county's evacuation updates: Napa County, Solano County, Lake County, Yolo County and Sonoma County.

The LNU complex of fires, ignited by lightning strikes in Napa County on Aug. 17, consists of seven separate blazes burning in five different counties, including Sonoma, Napa, Solano and small sections of Yolo and Lake counties.

As of Wednesday morning, the fire complex was 33% contained and had grown to more than 360,000 acres, making it the third-largest wildfire in California history, Cal Fire. The group of blazes have so far claimed the lives of at least five people, injured at least four more and destroyed 1,080 homes and other buildings, while continuing to threaten 30,500 other structures.

A major firefighting effort is being directed Wednesday at the northern end of the Hennessey Fire — part of the LNU Complex — burning just south of Middletown in Lake County, Cal Fire officials said.

“It's our top priority,” said Cal Fire Operations Section Chief Chris Waters at a Wednesday briefing. “All the resources on this fire have started to coalesce in that area so we can start to close this thing off.”

Firefighters have also made steady progress on the two large blazes in Sonoma County that are also part of the LNU Complex: the Meyers Fire near Jenner, which is 97% contained, and the Walbridge Fire, which is 19% contained. Sonoma County officials on Tuesday lifted evacuation orders for thousands of people, allowing them to return home.

Still, the Walbridge Fire, south of Lake Sonoma, has destroyed scores of homes and other buildings and remains a tough fight, Waters said.

“Heavy fuels, steep and broken terrain, it's very difficult terrain to work in. Also a lot of homes and a lot of structures we have to work around,” Waters said. But, he added, crews “continue to make good progress in tying together vineyards, people's backyards, strategic points.”

SCU Lightning Complex

• Information lines: 669-247-7431 and 916-618-3195
• Cal Fire incident information page
• Cal Fire SCU Twitter feed
• Evacuation information

The SCU Lightning Complex is approximately 20 separate fires broken into three zones: the Canyon, Calaveras Zone and Deer zones. As of Wednesday evening, the fires have collectively burned 367,371 acres — making it the second largest complex of fires in California history — and were 30% contained, Cal Fire said.

The blazes are largely burning in steep, rugged terrain in mostly less populous areas across Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa, San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties, and have led to some evacuation orders, mainly near San Jose. The fires have so far caused three first responder injuries, two civilian injuries and destroyed 20 structures, while threatening about 20,065 others.

On Wednesday afternoon, Cal Fire officials reported that the entire east side of the complex had been contained and that crews have also been successful in significantly slowing its southbound spread. However, much of the north and west sides of the vast complex remained largely uncontained, with crews on the ground still actively engaged in firefighting efforts, and bulldozers cutting lines to prevent further expansion.

The number one threat, officials said, continues to be the largely uncontained western flank of the complex because of its proximity to densely populated areas along Highway 101 — including the cities of San Jose and Morgan Hill.

Officials also stressed that the entire fire perimeter — even areas not currently burning — is still closed to public access because of dangerous conditions.

CZU August Lightning Complex

• Cal Fire information line: 831-335-6717
• Cal Fire incident information page
• Cal Fire CZU Twitter feed
• Updated evacuation information

The CZU August Lightning Complex consists of multiple smaller lightning-sparked fires in the Santa Cruz mountains that merged into a massive blaze in Santa Cruz and San Mateo counties, forcing more than 77,000 residents to evacuate, including the entire UC Santa Cruz campus. As of Wednesday night, the fires had burned 81,137 acres and were 21% contained, with one reported civilian fatality. Nearly 600 residences and other buildings had been destroyed, and some 24,000 others were threatened, according to Cal Fire.

KQED's Matthew Green contributed to this post, with additional reporting from the Associated Press and Bay City News.