California fires: firefighters work to contain two of the largest blazes as 7,000 others burn – as it happened

Summary

Kari Paul here in Oakland, signing off for the day. Here are the top stories of the afternoon regarding the historic fires in California.

• The two largest wildfires in California grew slightly overnight but officials are optimistic that favorable weather and reinforcements from other firefighting units will help their efforts to contain them.
• Smoke Alerts have been issued to several counties in California and the state health department is encouraging all residents to stay indoors as much as possible.
• Many evacuation orders were lifted on Tuesday for cities now safe from the blazes, but other cities including Felton and Ben Lomond were hit with new evacuation orders.
• Smoke from California fires is wafting across the entire United States, making its way to the East Coast.

Because it is late in the day and the news is extra depressing lately, here is a picture of a Turkey Vulture inadvertently captured by a fire camera.

Officials have released a preliminary assessment map of damage caused by the CZU Lightning fire, which is extensive. Red areas on the map are “destroyed”, or have at least 50% of the area damaged by fires.

Images from a firefighter on the scene give a look at how extensive damage has been from on the ground.

Outside Magazine has published a heartbreaking letter from someone whose home located in the woods north of Santa Cruz was incinerated by the CZU Lightning Complex Fires.

The letter is authored by marine biologist Wallace J. Nichols and is addressed to his daughter.

We built your home around you when you were still inside your mother.

We built it stronger and more sturdy than it needed to be. I thought a lot about every piece of wood and stone. Every knob and switch. We filled it with our books, musical instruments, and interesting animal bones. I imagined you looking down after a bath through the railing upstairs.

The fire, which is now 15% contained, has destroyed 18 homes and other structures and damaged six. It burnt down all of Nichols’ home except for a stone chiminea. Read the full story here.

For more context into the dry, hot conditions that preceded the massive wildfires in California: July 2020 was the second warmest month on record, globally.

As summers get hotter and weather gets more severe, “megafires” like those we are seeing now in California will become more common. In California in particular, vegetation was parched from a relatively dry rainy season. When it was struck by lightning, it quickly was set aflame.

Smoke from the California wildfires has expanded, floating across the United States all the way to the East Coast. And it looks, as one journalist noted, like Big Foot.

The SCU Lightning Complex fire, the largest of several fires currently blazing across the state and the second largest wildfire in California history, is now 15% contained, officials from Cal Fire said in a press conference on Tuesday.

Some 363,772 acres of land have been burnt by the fire and 18 structures have been destroyed. There have been no deaths but five confirmed injuries of civilians and fire personnel.

Teams from nine different states are assisting California as it fights the fires, including Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Utah, and Washington.

Some 600 goats have been successfully evacuated from Santa Clara County to escape the Coyote Fire, ABC7 reported on Tuesday.

Park rangers helped them get out safely as the fire approached.

The local Boys & Girls Club of St Helena and Calistoga near the wildfires is asking for donations to help those affected by the fires. They are accepting money, gift cards, meals, water and PPE to deliver to families who have evacuated and are camping.

Here are some other ways to help victims of the wildfires, which have displaced more than 100,000 people.

Local foundations include:

Napa Valley Community Foundation

North Valley Community Foundation

Community Foundation Santa Cruz County

California Fire Foundation

Others:

American Red Cross: online donations can be specifically directed to “California Wildfires”.

United Way of Northern California: The United Way is involved in programs for people affected by wildfires, including long-term recovery operations.

GoFundMe: The fundraising website has launched a “California Wildfire Relief Fund”. There are also pages for specific wildfire-related losses and other fundraisers including a memorial fund for a pilot who died when his helicopter crashed while dropping water on fires, and another to protect field farm workers, largely immigrants who are working in unsafe and smoky conditions as the fires rage on.

Facebook: The social media company launched its own fundraiser on Tuesday, offering to match up to $500,000 in donations to the Red Cross.

Fires in California have now charred 1.25m acres since 15 August when lightning strikes ignited blazes across the state, according to the latest numbers from Cal Fire.

The areas affected by fires have now reached the size of Delaware. These “megafires” could burn for weeks, Cal Fire officials warned.

Progress is being made. Evacuation orders for zones of the Walbridge fire, which is part of the LNU Lightning Complex, have been lifted after more of it was contained over the past few days.

The Walbridge fire is currently 54,503 acres and 17% contained. People are being told they can return to the cities of Healdsburg and Windsor, which were on the outskirts of the blaze.

The combination of the Covid-19 pandemic and wildfires in California have created a uniquely difficult situation, top health official Mark Ghaly said on Tuesday.

He said 3,383 evacuees are in congregate shelters rather than hotel rooms, meaning that sharing air could lead to more infections.

Firefighters have also had to modify how they work this year, as they generally stay in camps with close contact between shifts.

Cal Fire teams are in Felton, California, clearing brush from forests and paths as the CZU Lightning Complex approaches the area.

Felton has already been evacuated, as has surrounding cities Ben Lomond, and Zayante.

Children with homemade posters lined the streets in Pleasanton to thank firefighters for their efforts, according to a video shared with local news station KRON4.

Many firefighters are stationed at the Alameda Fairgrounds there.

In a press conference Tuesday morning, officials from the Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit of Cal Fire (the California department of forestry and fire protection) shared that they have made significant progress in addressing the LNU Lightning Complex in the last 48 hours.

Officials attributed this progress to better weather and an increase in resources over the last five days. Monday and Tuesday saw calmer winds and cooler temperatures, and clearer air on Monday afternoon allowed aircrafts to carry out firefighting efforts. Planes and helicopters are often grounded when the air is too smoke-filled, the official said.

Firefighting personnel and supplies have come in from other states to supplement firefighting effort. Cal Fire now has 304 fire engines, 50 water tankers, four helicopters, and 2,194 personnel total, officials said.

As of Tuesday, the LNU Lightning Complex has burnt 352,913 acres and is now 27% contained. More resources from the national guard are expected in coming days.

Despite the increasing containment, there remain some “problem areas”, officials said, and the fires remain fast-changing. Many evacuations remain in effect and there will likely be more evacuation orders today.

Another official noted that even when these fires are contained, the danger is not over. “We are in the middle of peak fire season,” she said. “Once this fire is done we still have a long way to go.”

Smoke alerts have been issued to several California counties as wildfires continue to affect air quality across the state.

The California department of public health and the office of Governor Gavin Newsom have urged all Californians to stay indoors when possible, with windows and doors closed.

Coty Jen, an assistant professor at the Center for Atmospheric Particle Studies at Carnegie Mellon University, told USA Today the concentration of tiny particles (PM2.5) in the Bay Area is roughly five times the daily average limit set by the EPA.

“Even healthy people are reporting headaches, bloody noses, etc, during this current smoke event,” Jen said.

Areas that have been issued smoke warnings include Concord, Livermore, Napa, Oakland, Redwood City, San Francisco, San Jose, San Rafael, Sebastopol, Vacaville, and Vallejo.

Reporting live from Oakland, California, this reporter can confirm the air is mildly smoky and uncomfortable to breathe. Going outdoors smells like a campfire and aerobic activities like walking or running can feel slightly more difficult. Oakland is experiencing a “moderate” air quality index today.

By comparison, Vacaville, where fires are located, have an “unhealthy” air quality index.