California governor declares statewide emergency as wildfires spread

Winds hit the 70-80 mph range on Sunday, the National Weather Service said. Newsom’s proclamation mentioned a “historic wind event” and said “fire weather conditions are unprecedented due to the scale, scope, wind speed and dry fuel conditions.”

“We are deploying every resource available, and are coordinating with numerous agencies as we continue to respond to these fires,” Newsom said in a statement. “It is critical that people in evacuation zones heed the warnings from officials and first responders, and have the local and state resources they need as we fight these fires.”

Kincade Fire spreading fast

The rapid growth of the Kincade Fire alarmed fire officials and residents like Christopher Bingham. He said his family prepared to evacuate, but he was still surprised to see a wall of fire approaching his house in Geyserville a few days ago.

“This is the largest evacuation that any of us at the Sheriff’s Office can remember,” the department tweeted. “Take care of each other.”

Newsom said 3,000 fire personnel are working on the Kincade Fire. Resources have been brought in from San Diego and southern California to help, he said.

Two vegetation fires broke out in the city of Vallejo in the San Francisco Bay area Sunday morning, temporarily shutting down traffic on the Interstate 80 at the Carquinez Bridge, according to the California Highway Patrol. The city’s mayor, Bob Sampayan, said the fire was 80% contained after burning some 140 acres.

The California State University Maritime Academy (Cal Maritime) evacuated the waterfront campus due to the vegetation fires. Cal Maritime is the only degree-granting maritime academy on the West Coast.

In San Francisco proper, winds blew with such force that authorities advised motorists not to drive campers and trailers across the San Francisco Bridge.

Tick Fire destroys 22 structures

Down in the Los Angeles area, “critical fire weather conditions are in place across Southern California today as winds ramp up across the region this evening,” Brink said.

Ferocious winds, with gusts up to 80 mph, mixed with dry vegetation and critically low humidity of less than 10% have spawned the extreme fire threat, Brink said.

“A second, potentially stronger Santa Ana wind event is forecast to occur Wednesday into Thursday, with winds gusting to 70 mph,” Brink said.

More than 1 million people in the dark

In an effort to avert any more wildfires, Pacific Gas & Electric has shut off power to 960,000 customers, PG&E said Sunday.

But the number of people without power is higher, since electric customers include houses and businesses.

Residents in parts of 38 counties in the Northern and Southern Sierra Foothills, the North Bay and Mendocino, the Bay Area, the Central Coast and the Central Valley are part of the rolling blackouts, the company said.

PG&E announced the current shutoff last week. The company has made preventive shutoffs all over northern and central California in recent weeks, but this one could be the largest.

Californians tired of losing electricity might have to get used to it.

Earlier this year, the company warned it could proactively cut power more often during risky weather conditions as a means of preventing wildfires caused by high winds downing live power equipment.

The preventive power outages may continue for a decade, PG&E’s chief executive said earlier this month.

PG&E has came under widespread criticism and agreed to pay billions for its role in the 2018 Camp Fire, California’s deadliest and most destructive blaze.

Helping evacuees

Hosts in the region are opening their homes for free until November 7 to displaced residents and relief workers deployed to help.