California Wildfires: 11 Dead, Scores Missing

More than a dozen wildfires raged across Northern California on Tuesday morning, with the biggest ones scorching the state’s famous wine country, killing at least 11 people and burning more than 1,500 homes and businesses, authorities said.

The fires were burning in California’s wine country destinations — Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino counties — as well as Yuba County, north of Sacramento, with flames ripping through the lush, picturesque landscape.

Here’s what we know so far, according to California authorities.

• At least 11 people have died. Seven deaths were reported in the city of Santa Rosa in Sonoma County, two in Napa County, one in Mendocino County and one in Yuba County, according to officials.

• More than 100 people were being treated at Napa- and Sonoma-area hospitals for fire-related injuries or health issues, including burns, smoke inhalation and shortness of breath.

• Wildfires were burning more than 119,032 acres in California as of Monday night.

• More than 100 phone calls have been made to Sonoma County’s missing persons hotline, the county said Monday.

Most of the Northern California fires ignited Sunday night and spread with explosive speed because of dry conditions, Director Ken Pimlott of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said at a Monday news conference. With blazes fueled by strong winds reaching up to 50 mph, firefighters were dealing with “extreme rates of spread and volatile burning conditions,” according to Cal Fire.

More than 20,000 people evacuated, some with little notice.

The devastation was significant in Santa Rosa, a city of about 175,000, where the fire leveled subdivisions and reduced cars and homes into burnt piles of ash and rubble.

Seven deaths were reported there, but Sonoma County Sheriff Robert Giordano said, “That number’s going to change.”

Officers were still searching for people to evacuate and rescue, he said, and “it’s just logical” more bodies will be found.

Destroyed landmark buildings in the city included the Fountaingrove Inn, a 124-room hotel; a nearby event center, the Fountaingrove Round Barn; and classrooms at the Luther Burbank Center for the Arts, The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat reported. One of Santa Rosa’s fire stations was also lost in the fire, according to a post on the Mountain View Fire Department’s Facebook account.

“I’m lucky,” Santa Rosa Mayor Chris Coursey said at a news conference. “My house is fine. My family is fine. My city is not.”

A large part of the city was evacuated, including Kaiser Permanente Hospital and Sutter Hospital. Authorities imposed a sundown-to-sunrise curfew for the northern and eastern parts of the city under evacuation orders.
Authorities have not said what caused the fires but noted dry conditions made it easy for the fires to spread. October is typically the busiest month for wildfires in California, they said.

Complicating firefighting efforts were low humidity and a lack of resources, Napa County Fire Chief Barry Biermann said Monday.

“As of right now, with these conditions, we can’t get in front of this fire and do anything about the forward progress,” he said, adding that resources were to begin arriving in the area later that day.

Firefighters may get a break from the weather Tuesday.

“Winds and the fire weather threat will decrease Tuesday in the north, but a threat will remain in Southern California,” according to the National Weather Service on Monday.

CNN