Kincade fire acreage grows; more firefighters to respond ahead of weekend wind event
- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
Video of the Kincade fire in Sonoma County, California, on the night of Wednesday, October 23, 2019, taken from the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office helicopter Henry-1.
NORTH COAST, Calif. – The Kincade fire in Sonoma County continued to burn aggressively on Thursday, scorching thousands more acres, with hundreds more firefighters to respond to assist with controlling it as another high wind event is in the forecast.
The fire began shortly before 9:30 p.m. Wednesday in The Geysers geothermal steamfield, near the intersection of John Kincade Road and Burned Mountain Road, just above the community of Geyserville.
The cause remains under investigation, however on Thursday, Pacific Gas and Electric reported that it has submitted a report to the California Public Utilities Commission related to a failure in a power transmission line in the fire area which hadn’t been deenergized as part of this week’s public safety power shutoff.
Cal Fire Incident Commander Chief Mike Parkes of the Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit said Thursday night that the fire has so far burned 16,000 acres, with 5 percent contained.
He said the damage assessment – which is not yet complete – has so far identified 49 destroyed structures.
Parkes said that when firefighters arrived in the fire area Wednesday night, it was already a couple hundred acres and rapidly expanding.
“Because of the terrain of the area, the crews had a difficult time getting around it early on, and the fire grew much more quickly in size,” he said, adding that it was fueled by dry northern winds that were measured at 60 miles per hour and greater.
He said the winds pushed the fire out of The Geysers and down to just above Geyserville.
Parkes said resources have been brought in from all over California. As of Thursday, 1,300 firefighters are on the line, a number that’s expected to increase by up to 50 percent as early as Friday thanks to a significant order being placed Thursday night.
Other resources assigned on Thursday included 104 engines, 10 water tenders, 12 helicopters, 38 hand crews and 25 dozers, Cal Fire said.
Parkes said eight air tankers are working the incident, including the very large air tanker used on Thursday.
Sonoma County Sheriff Mark Essick said Thursday night that there are no reports of missing persons or fatalities.
Essick said all evacuation orders and warnings remain in effect. He said 2,000 people are impacted by the evacuation orders just for the town of Geyserville and the hills above it.
The specific evacuation areas are the town of Geyserville, Cloverdale Geysers Road, Geysers Road, Red Winery Road, Alexander Mountain Road, Pine Flat Road, all roads east of Highway 128 to Geyserville. Evacuation centers are open at the Healdsburg Community Center and the Sonoma County Fairgrounds.
The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office has so far had no reports of looting in the fire area, a fact Essick attributed to the large law enforcement presence in the fire area.
All roads east of Highway 101 in the Geyserville area have been closed due to the fire, and on Thursday night Capt. Aristotle Wolf of the California Highway Patrol said those closures remain in effect. However, he added that there are no threats to Highway 101, which remains open.
Parkes said he’s concerned about the incoming weather for the weekend, which forecasters are predicting could be the strongest wind event of the season.
The significant resource order placed by Cal Fire on Thursday night is meant to boost the day shift for Friday and let them get ahead of the weather, he said.
“We absolutely are up against the clock,” with both dry fuel and more high winds in the forecast, Parkes said.
As a result of the forecast high winds for the weekend, PG&E said it considering still another public safety power shutoff that could impact a large portion of the region, including Lake and Sonoma counties.
That shutoff could begin on Saturday and continue through Monday before the all-clear is called for inspections in order to begin turning the power back on, the company said.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.