People in Northern California’s wine country were warned Tuesday they may need to leave “at a moment’s notice” as powerful winds threaten to bring more devastation to areas already ravaged by wildfires. Crews battling the massive Kincade Fire fear the wind could fan the flames.
“The danger has not passed yet,” Sonoma County Sheriff Mark Essick told reporters. “… Nothing is imminent right now, but I think anybody who lives in Sonoma County right now should be considering what they would do if a warning came or an evacuation order came, so I would encourage everyone to be prepared to go at a moment’s notice if things change.”
The wildfire has burned an area more than twice the size of San Francisco and destroyed nearly 60 homes. Six days after the fire first ignited, firefighters were scrambling to put out hot spots in hopes of getting an upper hand before wind gusts reaching as high as 50 mph kick up again, CBS News correspondent Jonathan Vigliotti reports.
“The wind will carry burning materials sometimes miles ahead of the fire,” Cal Fire spokesman Rhett Pratt said, “so we’re having to go around and one by one deal with those and mitigate those dangers as they pop up, which is always a difficulty, it being dynamic and not just a set fire line.”
In Southern California, where high winds fueled the Getty Fire in the early morning hours Monday, authorities are manning their fire lines with additional personnel. Their concern is predicted gusts of up to 80 mph.
“I’ve asked my command staff to do everything possible to ensure that the line is as cold as possible before those winds kick up,” Los Angeles Fire Chief Ralph Terrazas said. With the wind expected to pick up in Northern California, California’s largest utility, Pacific Gas & Electric, warned it could conduct its third power cut in less than a week; nearly 4 million people could be in the dark.
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Source Article from https://www.cbsnews.com/live-news/fire-in-california-latest-getty-kincade-sonoma-tick-fires-evacuations-today-live-updates-2019-10-29/
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