The evacuation orders are multiplying, while the flames ravage California. North of San Francisco, some 50,000 people were summoned to evacuate on Saturday, October 26. The authorities are worried that the strong winds expected in the evening will still fuel the raging fire in the area for several days.
Since Wednesday night, the wine region of Sonoma County, near San Franciso, is devoured by the "Kincade Fire". More than 2,000 firefighters, supported by about twenty water bombers and a hundred fire trucks, were trying to circumscribe the fire on Saturday.
Event "potentially extreme and historical"
Saturday morning, it covered about 10 300 hectares and was only 10% contained. It has destroyed at least 49 buildings, according to the latest announcements from Cal Fire, the California Fire Department, and threatens some 23,500 others.
"We are announcing the evacuation of about 50,000 people," Sonoma County Sheriff Mark Essick said at a press conference Saturday morning. The authorities asked the people concerned to evacuate immediately, and to leave at 4:00 pm (local time) from this area, which includes the cities of Healdsburg and Windsor, about an hour and a half by car from San Francisco.
The weather services have warned that the area will be on red alert from Saturday night until Monday morning due to strong winds, which make weather conditions extremely conducive to the rapid spread of fires. These evoke a climatic event "potentially extreme and historical".
On Twitter, state governor Gavin Newsom called on locals to follow instructions from local authorities. He had gone to the field the day before and assured reporters that he had seen what looked like "a war zone".
Additional evacuation orders and warnings have been issued in the areas impacted by the #KincadeFire.
If you live in the area, please stay safe, alert, and follow directions of local officials. https://t.co/BzRltoW5n1
Electricity from 940,000 households in 36 counties will be cut off from Saturday afternoon, warned the PG & E supplier. A precautionary measure taken because of forecasts announcing a "dry, hot and windy weather", a "climatic event that could be the most powerful in California for decades".
A second fire near Los Angeles
At the same time, California firefighters were facing several other fires. Hundreds of miles further south, another fire, named "Fire Fire", was 25% contained and spread over more than 1,800 hectares, according to firefighters on Saturday morning.
The fire, which occurred Thursday afternoon, threatened nearly 10,000 buildings in this area north of Los Angeles.
Most of the evacuation orders that had been issued in that area were lifted on Saturday morning, according to the Los Angeles Sheriff's Office. They touched up to tens of thousands of people.
With bursts at 40 km / h in some places and air humidity still low on Saturday, the conditions were still met to promote the spread of fires, warned the weather services.
More than 1,300 firefighters, assisted by four helicopters, were still fighting the Tick Fire on Saturday morning. At least nine buildings have already been burned to ashes.
The fire season is a regular occurrence in California, but its frequency has accelerated significantly in recent years. In early November 2018, Camp Fire destroyed the small town of Paradise in the north of the state, killing 86 people and leaving several tens of thousands displaced.
With AFP