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Live updates: 10 dead, up to 50 reported missing in Wine Country fires
By Peter Fimrite, Jill Tucker, Carolyn Said, Michael Cabanatuan, and Marissa Lang Updated 7:29 pm, Monday, October 9, 2017
Napa and Sonoma County wildfires on October 9, 2017
Media: San Francisco Chronicle
Latest developments in the North Bay fires:
7 p.m. Dozens reported missing: Sonoma County has received up to 50 missing-persons reports as of Monday evening, said Jennifer Larocque, a county spokeswoman.
5:30 p.m. Vice President Mike Pence addresses California fire crisis: During a preplanned fundraising visit to Southern California, Pence said he spoke with Gov. Jerry Brown and Orange County firefighters about the wildland and urban fires ravaging the state.
In a tweet, the vice president thanked first responders.
5:15 p.m. Curfew issued: Santa Rosa officials instated a mandatory curfew from 6:45 p.m. Monday until sunrise for the area of the city that was under evacuation orders. Anyone out in public overnight in the evacuated swaths of the city would be subject to arrest, Santa Rosa police warned.
5:10 p.m. Looting reported in Sonoma County: Sheriff Rob Giordano said some looting has been reported in the county, but did not immediately provide details.
The North Bay fires and smoke are seen from above as the California Highway Patrol surveyed the damage from its helicopter. Photo: Courtesy California Highway Patrol
4:45 p.m. Gov. Jerry Brown asks President Trump for declaration: Brown sent the White House a letter Monday asking for a major disaster declaration, which would give the state additional federal assistance. Brown also issued new emergency proclamations for Butte, Lake, Mendocino, Nevada and Orange counties because of fires.
4:40 p.m. Death toll rises to 10: At least 10 people have been killed in Northern California wildfires, officials said.
Seven people were killed in Sonoma County, according to the sheriff’s office. Two deaths were reported in Napa County, where the Atlas Peak Fire is burning, according to the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Mendocino County officials reported one death, in a fire in Redwood Valley.
4:30 p.m. Doctors lose homes as they care for patients: Chad Krilich, the chief medical officer at Santa Rosa Memorial, said many doctors who reported for duty Monday had lost their homes just hours before.
The hospital was providing on-site accommodations for staff and volunteers who needed a place to sleep.
Krilich was one such doctor, who assumed his home was gone. He said he grabbed two photos — a picture of his wedding day and one of his children — five pairs of underwear and Hip Hop, the family’s aquatic turtle, before fleeing his Santa Rosa home about 2 a.m. and heading into work.
As a flurry of ash fell outside the Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, Elizabeth and Joseph Tito took comfort in controlling what they could: the flow of ambulances, cars and panicked families in and out of the hospital’s main parking lot. Waves of patients came in with injuries related to evacuations, including car crashes and injuries from falling.
The hospital also accepted evacuees from our neighboring medical centers, including six transfers from Kaiser in Santa Rosa, which was evacuated and shut down, and six from Sutter Medical Center.
Among the patients transferred from Sutter were several expectant mothers in active labor and their newborns.
The Tito family had evacuated their new home in Fountaingrove, an upscale community north of downtown Santa Rosa, about 3 a.m. Monday after seeing flames licking the tops of nearby hills. They had just moved to the area in August — an attempt to escape East Coast blizzards and “bad weather,” Elizabeth Tito said.
“I guess we traded the blizzards for fire,” she said.
Elizabeth and Joseph Tito, both surgeons at St. Joseph Health’s outpatient facility and Healdsburg District Hospital, respectively, said they were happy for the distraction of directing traffic.
It kept them from spending too much time wondering whether their home was still standing.
4 p.m. Flights canceled: All flights into and out of Charles M. Schulz Sonoma County Airport were canceled or redirected. Napa County Airport remained open, and Pacific Gas and Electric Co. was even using it as a staging ground for some of the utility’s emergency crews.
3:55 p.m. Schools will stay closed: The Sonoma County Office of Education said schools in nearly all the county’s 40 districts will remain closed Tuesday, with the exception of a few on the North Coast. Some schools cannot connect to the Internet to notify parents through their usual email messages.
Mendocino College, the entire Ukiah Unified School District and all schools in Willits will be closed Tuesday as well.
3:35 p.m. Helicopters continue to make rescues: The California Highway Patrol said three of its helicopters were continuing to rescue people trapped in fire-ravaged areas of Napa County. Many residents were unaware of evacuation orders because cell phone service and land lines were not working, the CHP said. The helicopters had airlifted 44 evacuees by mid-afternoon. In mandatory evacuation zones, the aircraft crews landed and went door to door on the ground, telling people to get out.
3:30 p.m. Missing-persons reports: Sonoma County officials say people needing information about a missing person in the county can call the Fire and Emergency Services Department at (707) 565-3856.
2:50 p.m. Devastation in Mendocino County: The small town of Redwood Valley in Mendocino County was the first to record a death from a series of wildfires that broke out on Sunday night.
Redwood Valley, a town of some 2,000 people about 8 miles north of Ukiah, had one confirmed fatality as a direct result of the Redwood Fire. Authorities fear they are more people who were caught off guard and trapped in homes that were incinerated on Sunday night, said Capt. Greg Van Patten of the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office in Ukiah.
“It looks like we will have multiple fatalities,” Van Patten said. “There were areas where there just wasn’t enough time to give an evacuation notice because the spread of the fire was so rapid. A lot of the area was overcome before we got ourselves injected into the situation.”
2:20 p.m. Evacuation recommendations spread east: The Solano County Sheriff’s Office strongly encouraged people in the Green Valley area of Fairfield to evacuate because of the projected spread of the Atlas Fire. Officials said that if the fire picks up, a formal and mandatory evacuation order will be issued.
3:15 p.m. Cal Fire issues update: At least 15 fires are ravaging Northern California, burning at least 73,000 acres, said Daniel Berlant, a spokesman for the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Berlant said wind and visibility conditions have affected the ability of firefighting aircraft to fly into some areas. Large air tankers from other states have joined the effort, he said.
“We have a lot of aircraft ready to go, ready to respond as soon as an incident commander requests them,” Berlant said.
Fire investigators arrived in the North Bay and will be looking into the causes of the fires, Berlant said.
1 p.m. Red Cross assists evacuees: The American Red Cross said its volunteers were providing meals, health services and information on lodging at evacuation centers in Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino and Lake counties.
“Individuals and families under evacuation orders because of wildfires and in need of shelter assistance are encouraged to simply show up at one of the shelters for help,” said Jeff Baumgartner, executive director of Red Cross in the region. “We’ll be in this community providing relief for as long as there is a need.”
12:15 p.m. More than 100 fire victims treated at hospitals: Major hospitals in Napa and Sonoma counties treated more than 100 people for injuries ranging from burns to smoke inhalation.
Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital said it treated 60 people Monday morning for injuries suffered in the wildfires sweeping the two counties. Two of the patients were in critical condition and 58 were treated for moderate to minor injuries, officials said.
The Queen of the Valley Medical Center in Napa treated about 40 patients, most for smoke inhalation. One patient was transferred to a burn center with significant burns.
Petaluma Hospital treated an additional six patients for smoke inhalation.
11:50 a.m. At least 14 major fires burning in Northern California: At least 1,500 homes and commercial facilities have been destroyed in 14 fires burning in eight counties in Northern California, including Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino and Yuba counties, said Chief Ken Pimlott of the California Department of of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Combined the blazes have burned 73,000 acres.
Pimlott said at a news conference in Sacramento that an estimated 20,000 people had been evacuated in the eight counties. He said firefighters has “limited or no containment” on the fires.
11:46 a.m. Homes gone in Coffey Park: Matt Edgar of Santa Rosa’s Coffey Park neighborhood is one of many who lost his house to the fire. His fiance woke him up about 1:30 a.m. and he spent three hours on his lawn with a hose, trying to extinguish flying embers, before he was forced to flee. “I’m still in shock,” he said. “We’re in limbo right now.”
11:30 a.m. Death reported in Mendocino: The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office reported a fire-related death south of Willits. Capt. Gregory Van Patten said a fire surged early Monday from Potter Valley west toward Redwood Valley as wind gusts downed power lines and trees. Evacuations were ordered, but the fire burned structures, killed one person and caused numerous injuries, he said.
11:30 a.m. CHP has airlifted dozens of evacuees: The California Highway Patrol said that it had rescued 42 people, ranging from age 5 to age 91, by helicopter. Five dogs and a cat were also airlifted.
“In one case a man waited for a second CHP helicopter after ensuring his wife and 5 year old child were safe,” the CHP said in a Facebook post.
11:30 a.m. Arrest of looter in fire zone: The Mendocino County Sheriff's Office said it arrested a person who was “in the process of burglarizing” an empty home that had been evacuated for the Redwood Fire south of Willits.
10:45 a.m. Vineyard workers airlifted overnight: At two high-elevation vineyards, California Highway Patrol helicopters had to airlift more than two dozen people — who were apparently working overnight as wine harvest laborers — as flames approached, officials said.
About 30 people were rescued from the top of Atlas Peak sometime after the fire broke out at 9:20 p.m. Sunday, according to David Shew, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
10:30 a.m. Arts center damaged: The Luther Burbank Center for the Arts, a performance venue in north Santa Rosa, said the center has been damaged, but the extent of the wreckage wasn’t immediately known. Staff said they were all safe and that the center would be closed Monday.
10 a.m. Hospital details evacuation of patients: Kaiser Permanente said 130 patients were safely evacuated from the Santa Rosa medical center Monday morning. Patients were transported to Kaiser Permanente in San Rafael, other local hospitals and evacuation sites. All scheduled appointments and surgeries at Santa Rosa and Napa were canceled for the day. The hospital’s Napa medical offices at 3285 Claremont Way were closed.
9:30 a.m. Napa County officials give first briefing: County supervisors and emergency officials said three fires were burning in Napa County: the 25,000-acre Tubbs Fire near Calistoga, which broke out at 9:20 p.m. Sunday; the Atlas Peak Fire in Napa, which has burned 25,000 acres; and the 3,000-acre Partrick Fire in the Carneros area of Napa. There is zero containment on all of the fires.
“All three of these are a threat at this point,” said David Shew, a Cal Fire spokesman. “We don’t have control of any of them.”
Napa Fire Chief Barry Biermann said at least 50 structures, including houses and barns, had been destroyed, but expected the number to climb. He also said Cal Fire is expected to soon provide an air attack on the fires burning not just in Napa County, but in neighboring Sonoma, Mendocino and Lake counties, where at least four other fires were burning out of control.
Officials said at least 100 homes in Napa alone were evacuated. Sheriff’s deputies of Contra Costa and Sonoma counties went door to door, knocking on people’s homes and telling them to get out. Officials also used an emergency text message system and automated calls to residents, alerting them of the evacuation orders.
Heavy winds helped propel the fires overnight. They died down by late morning, but were expected to pick back up by nightfall, officials said. Fire crews aim to get some level of containment on the fires before sunset Monday.
Shew of Cal Fire, who lives in Napa, said he noticed how dangerous the wind and temperature conditions were Sunday evening prior to the fires breaking out.
“Even at my house, I said to my wife, ‘If we get a fire tonight, it’s going to be devastating,’” Shew said. “Then it happened.”
Biermann said the causes of the fires were not immediately known.
9 a.m. Gov. Jerry Brown declares emergency: The California governor declared a state of emergency for Napa, Sonoma and Yuba counties, citing the damage of “critical infrastructure,” the closure of major highways and destruction of homes and other buildings.
8:50 a.m. Loud booms sound in Napa: Off Monticello Road east of Vichy Road, the air grew warm and filled with smoke as the flames on the ridge above approached. Every 5 minutes or so, a loud boom sounded, followed by a hissing noise.
“Those are gas lines exploding,” said Michel Alfaro, president of a Rocklin engineering firm, who drove to Napa to check on his vacationing in-laws' home.
Alfaro kept his pickup truck running so he could make a quick getaway but was also helping neighbors pack up and get out.
“I’m helping whoever needs help,” he said. “I just can’t imagine that some people still haven’t left.”
8:45 a.m. Resident waters down own home: Bob Ochs, the former chief probation officer for Sonoma County who lives in house in Hidden Valley area of Santa Rosa, a block from the mandatory evacuation area, said he was awakened in the predawn hours by a neighbor and began packing his belongings and watering down his house.
“You try to do whatever you can,” he said.
Ochs said he was staying put, for now, because of reports that traffic was at a standstill and roads were closed.
“Some of my neighbors are anxious and ready to move out, and some are more patient,” he said. “One man is walking his dog up and down the street.”
Ochs loaded his car with some of his most prized possessions — his baseball cards and a large photograph of pitching great Sandy Koufax throwing a no-hitter against the Giants.
“You save the most important things,” Ochs said.
8:39 a.m. What’s burning: The Tubbs Fire, stretching from the north side of Santa Rosa northeast to Calistoga, is the largest of several blazes burning in the North Bay, according to the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
The fire burned 20,000 acres overnight in the general area of Highway 128, Cal Fire said.
Other destructive fires included the Atlas Fire off Atlas Peak road south of Lake Berryessa. It has burned 5,000 acres, Cal fire said.
The Nuns fire along Highway 12 north of Glen Ellen in Sonoma County has burned 300 acres, and the Patrick Fire west of Napa has scorched 100 acres, Cal Fire said.
Farther north, the Redwood Fire west of the Mendocino National Forest and south of Blacl Bart in in Mendocino County, has burned 4,500 acres.
8:27 a.m. Ammo store in flames: The ammunition in Schmidt Guns and Ammunition started exploding as the flames reached the Santa Rosa warehouse that houses the business.
Andy Lahiji, owner of the warehouse, said the gun shop was one of several stores that he rents out in the building across from a mobile-home park on Piner Road in north Santa Rosa. All were destroyed.
7:57 a.m. Fire burning toward Solano County: Dave Shew, a staff chief with Cal Fire, called the Atlas Fire northeast of Napa “an incredibly fast-moving and dynamic fire” that is likely to burn into Solano County.
“We had real severe winds last night when this started,” Shew said. “It burned very very fast. So, our No. 1 priority was life safety.”
The fire burned to the Silverado Country Club and across Highway 128 and is now burning east of Napa toward the southeast, Shew said.
“There are some neighborhoods that got hit pretty hard with structures lost,” he said. “I think the number will be well over 100” homes lost.
“It’s just been a really rough night,” Shew said. “We have no idea what the cause is, but the winds are really severe. Could have been a downed power line or some other things. It’s just too early to speculate.”
He added, “This is an ongoing situation that is not only going to last days but for weeks. This is a hugely dynamic situation.”
5 a.m. Schools close for the day: In several cities, including Napa, Santa Rosa and Petaluma, public school leaders closed all schools Monday.
4:30 a.m. Dispatchers overwhelmed by calls: Sonoma County officials said emergency dispatchers were being “overwhelmed by 911 calls” from residents smelling smoke, adding, “Please only call 911 if you see actual unattended flames.” Authorities in Marin and San Francisco counties made the same plea.
3:45 a.m. Berkeley fire increases pressure on Bay Area crews: Firefighters from multiple jurisdictions were battling a blaze in the North Berkeley hills. They later declared it under control, and no homes were damaged.
3 a.m. Fires in Marin and Mendocino counties: In Mendocino County, authorities evacuated some residents while fighting the Redwood Fire, which had burned 4,500 acres north of Highway 20 and west of Mendocino National Forest. In Marin County, officials said that a grass fire had closed part of Highway 37.
2 a.m. Evacuees run for their lives, awaken neighbors: Just after 2 a.m., police reported the fire had jumped Highway 101 and “ignited structures” west of the freeway near Hopper Avenue. Evacuations were then ordered for that area. Residents later said they had seen homes, shops and restaurants burning, including the Kmart.
“This is a life-threatening event,” officials said. “Leave immediately.”
Among those who left the Hopper Avenue area were 11 members of the Flores family, who woke up and piled into two vehicles with four dogs after being jolted awake by neighbors. They said the air was thick with smoke and the wind was blowing so hard that trash bins toppled over.
“We couldn’t really see anything,” said Bradley Flores, 15. “We just got our dogs and got into the car and left. The wind was so bad our car was shaking.”
He spoke from the parking lot of a Chevron gas station in Petaluma. The lot was full of evacuees who were fueling up, buying water and talking on cell phones.
Also making it to Petaluma were Lance and Barb Cottrell, who live near Santa Rosa. At about midnight, they saw fire cresting over the ridge near their home, after a neighbor rang the doorbell. They packed a couple of suitcases, grabbed some prized antiques and headed to a friend’s house to the west of Highway 101.
“Our house is probably gone,” Lance said. “We just finished it in 2014.”
Soon, though, flames raced so fast into their friend’s neighborhood that people ran for their lives. Lance jumped in his car, and Barb in hers, and they tried to drive away, but they they saw a house engulfed in front of them and had to make a U-turn.
They ended up stuck in traffic before escaping down country roads west of Santa Rosa, avoiding trees that had blown down.
In the Kenwood area, near Highway 12 east of Santa Rosa, evacuations were ordered along Porter Creek, Petrified Forest, Franz Valley and Mountain Home Ranch roads. The Nuns Fire was estimated at 300 acres by the morning.
1 a.m. Flames tear through North Bay: All over the region, flames raced across fields and freeways and skies filled with embers and ash. The National Weather Service said the blazes, which caused power outages and blanketed much of the Bay Area in smoke, were fanned by dry northeast winds that gusted up to 50 mph in the valleys and 70 mph on mountaintops. Those winds were expected to ease later in the day.
9:20 p.m. Sunday, First reports of a fire in Napa County: The Atlas Fire broke out near Atlas Peak Road on Sunday evening and tore through a famed wine-growing area northeast of the city of Napa and the Silverado Trail.
Guests of the Silverado Resort and Spa on Atlas Peak Road said they escaped in a rush as flames approached. The resort had hosted the Safeway Open, a PGA Tour event, which ended Sunday.
“We were sleeping, but we kept smelling smoke,” said Chris Thomas, 42, of Kirkland, Wash., who arrived in the Napa Valley late Sunday with his wife, Marissa Schneider, for a wine-tasting trip.
They saw a firetruck pass, then were ordered to leave by loudspeaker. The power went out. Then things went downhill quickly.
“It was surreal,” Thomas said. “When I started loading stuff into the car it was a hell-storm of smoke and ash. There were 30 to 40 mph winds. I couldn’t even breathe, so I ran back to the unit to get Marissa. It was so smoky I went to the wrong unit. When I found her I said, ‘Forget it, let’s just go.’ It went from being an annoying evacuation to something really scary.”
Schneider said, “Debris was gusting around. The flames were about 100 feet from our door. It was scary.” They drove to downtown Napa and found a hotel room, though they were wary of being evacuated again.
Chronicle staff writers Kimberly Veklerov, Hamed Aleaziz and Melody Gutierrez contributed to this report.
Peter Fimrite, Jill Tucker and Michael Cabanatuan are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email:
pfimrite@sfchronicle.com,
jtucker@sfchronicle.com and
mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com
Santa Rosa
