Wildfires in California wine country and central Oregon grew overnight, prompting hundreds of evacuations as firefighters worked on Sunday to try to contain the blazes amid dry, hot weather.
The Pickett Fire in Napa county had grown to more than 10 sq miles (26 sq km) and was 11% contained as of early Sunday, according to the California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection.
About 190 people were ordered to leave their homes, while another 360 were under evacuation warnings as the fire threatened about 500 structures near Aetna Springs and Pope Valley, said Jason Clay, spokesman for Calfire Sonoma Lake-Napa Unit.
More than 1,230 firefighters backed by 10 helicopters were battling the fire, which began Thursday after a week of extremely hot weather. Air assets have also been deployed, including multiple helicopters for targeted water drops and air tankers for fire retardant.
The cause of the fire was still under investigation.
According to Cal Fire, there has been no confirmation of structures damages and or destroyed, although damage assessment remains ongoing. Because the fire is burning in rugged terrain, plus a weather forecast over next few days with hot and dry conditions, it will make sustained efforts “crucial for containment”.
An air quality alert has been put in place through multiple counties including Napa, Sonoma and Solano until Monday.
“If possible, and temperatures allow, stay inside with windows and doors closed until smoke levels subside. Residents can also reduce their exposure to smoke by setting their car vent systems to re-circulate to prevent outside air from moving inside. The use of indoor air filtration or going to a Clean Air Center or other location with filtered air, such as a library or mall, can also help reduce smoke exposure,” the Bay Area Air District said on Saturday.
Residents of the western United States have been sweltering in a heat wave that hospitalized some people, with temperatures forecast to hit dangerous levels throughout the weekend in Washington, Oregon, southern California, Nevada and Arizona.
Clay said the weather has moderated since the fire broke out, with Sunday’s high expected to be 94F (34C). But as the day goes on, humidity levels were expected to drop and the winds to pick up in the afternoon.
“That’s been a driving factor in the afternoons since we’ve seen the fire activity pick up for the last three days,” Clay said, adding that “support from all up and down California has been critical to our efforts”.
The fire began in the same area as the much larger Glass Fire in 2020, which crossed into Sonoma county and eventually burned about 105 sq miles (272 sq km) and more than 1,500 structures.
That fire was driven by wind, while the current fire is fueled by dry vegetation on steep slopes – some of it dead and downed trees left over from the Glass Fire and some of it grass and brush that grew back and then dried out again, said Clay.
In Oregon, the Flat Fire in Deschutes and Jefferson counties had grown to almost 34 sq miles (88 sq km), with no containment, and threatened nearly 4,000 homes, according to the state Fire Marshal’s Office. About 10,000 people were under some sort of evacuation notice.
The fire began Thursday night and grew quickly amid hot, gusty conditions. Fire officials were keeping an eye on isolated thunderstorms in Southern Oregon that could drift north on Sunday, spokesman Chris Schimmer said in a video posted to Facebook.
In a Sunday update, Central Oregon Fire Info (Cofi) said that night shift crew were able to establish initial lines along the southern head of the fire and made additional progress along portions of the north and wester perimeter of the fire.
Cofi added that crew were also able to burnout unburnt vegetation in the Carcass Creek area to slow the fire’s spread.
We were able to cut in some rough breaks around the fire to stop the spread around key areas and homes,” said Eric Perkins, Oregon’s Department of Forestry Complex Incident Management Team 3 operations section chief.
“We still have a lot of work ahead of us to improve lines and tie them together,” he added.
Sunday’s conditions of fighting fires in Oregon include an extreme heat warning, as well as low relative humidities, an unstable air mass as well as temperatures expected to reach triple digits.
“Today we’re looking much better, we have high hopes that we can stop the forward progression of this fire,” Perkins said in a Facebook video, adding: “Having said that, we are in a fire fight and the weather’s not that favorable … It’s more favorable for the fire than the firefighters today.”
Temporary flight restrictions from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) have been put in place across the fire area, with authorities warning that all illegal drone use will be reported to law enforcement.
Meanwhile, air quality alerts have been issued across multiple communities in central Oregon, including Beaver Marsh, Bend, Crescent, Deschutes River Woods, La Pine, Madras, Prineville, Redville, Silver Lake, Sunrise and Three River.
According to IQAir, current air quality levels ranged between 150 and 200, which fall into the categories of unhealthy to very unhealthy conditions for residents.
Although it’s difficult to directly tie a single fire or weather event directly to climate change, scientists say human-caused warming from burning fossil fuels like coal and gas is causing more intense heatwaves and droughts, which in turn set the stage for more destructive wildfires.
