Some 50,000 people were ordered to evacuate Saturday north of San Francisco, California, where authorities feared that the strong winds expected in the evening still stir the fire that has raged for several days in this area. The "Kincade Fire" has devoured the wine region of Sonoma County near San Francisco since Wednesday night. More than 2,000 firefighters, supported by about twenty water bombers and a hundred fire trucks, were trying to circumscribe this fire on Saturday.
At least 49 buildings already destroyed
It spread Saturday morning about 10,300 hectares and was contained only 10%. 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 in this area, which includes the cities of Healdsburg and Windsor, about an hour and a half by car from San Francisco.
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, warned the weather services, which speak of a climatic event " potentially extreme and historical ".
"A climate event that could be the most powerful in California for decades"
"This episode seems to be the strongest of this year and since (a series of fires in October) 2017," they say. The winds, according to the meteorologists, should only decrease on Sunday in the afternoon. State Governor Gavin Newsom called on Twitter residents 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".
Electricity supplier PG & E, for its part, announced plans to cut off power to 940,000 homes from Saturday afternoon in 36 counties in the region, due to forecasts of "dry, hot and windy weather", a "climate event that could be the most powerful in California for decades". The measure will thus affect more than 2 million people, according to local media.
The local authorities have not yet determined the cause of the incident, but PG & E reported an incident on one of its lines near the point of origin of the "Kincade Fire", only seven minutes before the departure of the refugees. flames, reported Thursday local media.