Jun 24, 2008 12:06 am US/Pacific
850 Fires Across NorCal Create Unhealthy Air
FAIRFIELD (CBS 5 / AP / BCN) ―
Nearly 850 wildfires, many sparked by an "unprecedented" weekend lightning storm, burned a swath of Northern California on Monday —including Napa, Mendocino, Monterey, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, San Mateo and Solano counties.
Health officials warned that the large number of blazes burning created unhealthy air conditions throughout the greater Bay Area.
The Bay Area Air Quality Management District said it recorded highly elevated levels of particulate matter in the air, which can cause eye and nose irritation, coughing, a scratchy throat and irritated sinuses.
Thousands of firefighters battled the blazes on the ground and from the air and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he was alarmed by the number of fires that kept erupting.
"You can imagine how shocked I was," said Schwarzenegger, who indicated that he had enlisted the help of firefighters from Nevada and Oregon, "because you can never prepare for 500 or 700 or 800 fires all at the same time."
Visiting the fire lines in Fairfield Monday afternoon, Schwarzenegger said crews were doing a good job keeping the fires from merging.
Del Walters, assistant regional chief of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, noted that there were still 101 fires that had not been staffed yet.
Napa & Solano Counties
One of the biggest blazes burning in Northern California had charred nearly 6 square miles, or 4,089 acres, since it broke out on Saturday near Wild Horse Valley Road in remote Napa County and quickly moved into the mostly rural area of Lake Madigan in Solano County.
The Wild Fire threatened 300 homes and 50 other buildings as it fed on grassy woodland about 40 miles southwest of Sacramento.
It was 60-percent contained on Monday evening.
Residents living on Twin Sisters, Gordon Valley, Wooden Valley and Suisun Valley roads were allowed to return to their homes Monday afternoon. Residents of Green Valley Road below the burn line were also allowed to return home.
However, mandatory evacuations continued to be in place Monday night for residents of Joyce Lane, and an evacuation center remained set up in Fairfield at 1000 Kentucky Street.
One person suffered heat exhaustion from the fire, but it was unknown if the injured person was a firefighter or a civilian.
San Mateo CountyResidents in Brisbane, just south of San Francisco, were allowed back into their homes early Monday after a grass fire scorched several hundred acres on San Bruno Mountain.
Fire crews spent much of the day Monday mopping up the remains of the blaze that broke out about 7:30 p.m. Sunday, prompting the evacuation of about 200 people.
North County Fire Authority Deputy Fire Chief Richard Johnson said the blaze appeared to start near a quarry on the Brisbane side of the mountain but quickly spread over the top to the South San Francisco side.
South San Francisco resident Patty Nelson said she watched from her back porch as the fire burnt "a whole top" of the mountain and the flames "outlined" the mountain.
Santa Clara CountyTwo lightning-sparked blazes that burned a total of 1,000 acres about 25 miles south of San Jose in Santa Clara County were both 100 percent contained as of Monday evening.
The Humingbird and Whitehurst fires had forced hundreds of residents to flee over the weekend and prompted county officials to declare a local state of emergency.
All evacuees were allowed to return home by Monday night, the Santa Clara County Emergency Operations Center said.
The blazes cost nearly $700,000 to battle and no injuries were reported from either fire.
Santa Cruz CountyAt least 15 structures were burned in the Trabing Fire, which was 100 percent contained in Santa Cruz County as of Monday evening.
About 650 firefighters worked to tackle the flames, which blackened 630 acres north of Watsonville in the Larkin Valley area.
The fire, which broke out about 2 p.m. last Friday between Highway 1 and Trabing Road, was expected to be fully controlled by Tuesday night.
Fire officials initially evacuated about 2,000 people; most of those residents were allowed to return home by Monday.
However, Buena Vista Drive remained closed between Trabing Road and Larking Valley Road due to downed power lines.
The Trabing Fire was the third major blaze to hit Santa Cruz County in the past month. A 520-acre blaze charred destroyed 11 buildings in the Santa Cruz Mountains, and a fire near Corralitos covered more than 4,200 acres and destroyed about 100 buildings.
Monterey CountyAlong the coast in the Los Padres National Forest, a 2,000-acre wildfire burning three miles south of Big Sur since 1 p.m. Saturday forced the evacuations of 75 homes and businesses, destroyed one house and threatened hundreds of others between Partington Ridge and Graves Canyon.
The American Red Cross set up an evacuation center for those impacted residents at Big Sur Grange Hall.
The Gallery Fire also led to an emergency airlift Sunday of eight endangered California condors, and to the helicopter rescue of a Big Sur man, who was trapped by the flames.
The victim, John Cluett, could not escape from his home on Marble Peak as the fire had overrun the only road into and out of the area. The helicopter landed near Anderson Peak, picked-up Cluett and his dog, and flew them to safety just north of Andrew Molera State Park.
The Gallery Fire, which was caused by dry lightning and was zero-percent contained Monday night, had shut down Highway 1 between the Ventana Inn and Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park.
A second fire in the Los Padres had burned more than 57,000 acres as of Monday evening and injured nine firefighters.
The Indians Fire so far had destroyed two homes, 13 outbuildings and threatened more than 1,300 structures. It was 57 percent contained, but fire officials did not expect full containment until July 7.
The Monterey County Sheriff's Office lifted a voluntary evacuation notice for upper Pine Canyon, but an evacuation advisory remained in place for residents of upper and lower Pine Canyon as well as Thompson Canyon.
Investigators believed the Indians Fire, which started about 10 miles west of King City on June 8, was triggered by an escaped campfire. Suppression costs were estimated to be $28 million so far.
Shasta-Trinity National Forest
A roughly six-square-mile blaze continued burning Monday in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, about 160 miles north of Sacramento, where weekend lightning sparked dozens of blazes.
The largest of the fires threatened about 1,200 homes.
The other fires ranged in size from less than an acre to more than a square mile, but none of those immediately threatened homes, said U.S. Forest Service spokesman Michael Odle.
Mendocino County
In Mendocino County, there were 110 fires burning, with just 17 contained.
The blazes had charred a total of 5,000 acres so far, Cal Fire officials said.
In all, Northern California wildfires have destroyed close to 200 homes so far this year. Blazes started popping up just as the state's unofficial fire season began in mid-May, following the driest two-month period on record.
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