Firefighters continued to attack the Point Fire in Sonoma County, doubling containment overnight Tuesday while the size of the blaze remained at just over 1,200 acres, according to Cal Fire.
The wildfire just outside Healdsburg also has destroyed two structures and left at least one firefighter hurt.
Cal Fire posted on X Tuesday morning that the fire was 40% contained, with the acreage holding at 1,207.
Cal Fire’s relentless aerial assault has been nonstop since the fire started Sunday afternoon.
“We are hoping that with this reduction of wind strength today, we’re able to control it a little quicker,” Cal Fire spokesperson Mari Ochoa said Monday.
One firefighter had to be airlifted from the front line after suffering a non-life-threatening injury.
The evacuation order zone in the Dry Creek Valley is dotted with private vineyards, ranches and farms. Some property owners have decided to defy the evacuation order.
“When you have crops, there’s nothing to catch fire,” Alex Zabala said.
Zabala said he has a huge defensible space at the vineyard his wife’s family has owned since 1928.
“It’s all green,” he said. “There’s some weeds and such, but otherwise there’s no grasses to catch fire. That’s usually how it spreads. Embers come over and they’ll catch a field on fire.”
Zabala said he watched the fire take two of his neighbors’ homes overnight.
Firefighters on Monday continued to attack the Point Fire in Sonoma County, a wildfire that’s scorched roughly 1,200 acres and left at least one firefighter hurt. Thom Jensen, Jeff Ranieri and Vianey Arana reports.
Cal Fire says the Point Fire isn’t actively threatening any other structures at this time, but there’s still a lot of work to do.
“The big thing is when we can get those areas where we might have flare ups, those are the areas of concern just because those increases in fire activity could possibly jump the line, things like that,” Robert Foxworthy of Cal Fire said.
The smoke led to a Spare the Air alert due to unhealthy air quality with the Bay Area Air Quality District also issuing air quality advisory for Tuesday.
Healdsburg residents will have to adjust to the conditions they’ve come to expect this time of year.
“You feel it in your eyes a little bit, always smells like a campfire in the air when you’re walking around but it hasn’t been the worst,”Mike Strykowski of Healdsburg said.
NBC Bay Area staff
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