The state of California faces another bout of wildfires tearing through the northern part of the state and Los Angeles.
Fires started early Monday, Oct. 28, causing many residents to evacuate their homes. The Kincade fire in Northern California started on Oct. 23 and has already caused damage to 23 structures, 124 structures to be destroyed and 2 injuries according the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection’s website. In the south of the state, in Los Angeles, the Getty fire begun Monday, Oct. 28. Not much information as to how many structures and how much vegetation has been destroyed by the fire, according to the California Department of Forestry, but the Los Angeles fire department has already called for evacuations in some areas where the fire is located.
The Kincade fire located northeast of Geyserville, California started around 9:30 p.m. Oct. 23. According to the fire report from Cal Fire, reported on Oct. 24 at 7 p.m., the fire is said to be vegetation fire with the cause still unknown. An updated report on the fire shows that the fire is 15% contained with expected full containment by Nov. 7. The size of the fire is at 75,415 acres. According to the situation summary in an updated report, published Oct. 29, it states:
“Favorable weather conditions will enhance firefighting efforts in the morning while narrow roads and steep terrain are still making access to the fire areas difficult. Weather predictions show Northeast wind gusts picking up this evening. Firefighters will continue to mitigate structure threats and find opportunities to construct more control lines.”
In the southern part of the state of California, the Getty fire began at around 1:30 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 28. According to the report published by the Los Angeles Fire Department, published the same day at 9 a.m., the fire is said to be a brush fire with the cause under active investigation. The size of the fire is estimated at over 500 acres with the amount of structures destroyed still unknown. Structures threatened are estimated at approximately 10,000 and structures damaged are estimated at least five. The current situation of the fire is, according to the report,
“This is a very dynamic fire that is moving in a westward direction driven by Santa Ana wind conditions. Firefighters are actively engaged in structure protection throughout the evacuation zone.”
Due to the conditions of the fire and the weather in California, Pacific Gas and Electric began cutting power in different counties in the state. The reason for the power cuts is due to electrical malfunctions that caused two fires to break out on Sunday, Oct. 27 in Lafayette. Due to the winds in and conditions affecting areas in and near the fires, PG&E is going to be possibly cutting power in more counties.
Los Angeles Lakers star, Lebron James, had to evacuate his home early in the morning due to the fire. He tweeted on the morning at around 4 a.m., “Man these LA [fires] aren’t no joke. Had to emergency evacuate my house and I’ve been driving around with my family trying to get rooms. No luck so far!” Not an hour later James tweeted, “Finally found a place to accommodate us! Crazy night man!”
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, as well as the Los Angeles Fire Department are working tirelessly to contain the fires and keep them from spreading. According to the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, containment of the fires could take longer than expected due to the conditions facing the areas.
Sources:
https://www.fire.ca.gov/media/10004/kincade-incident-update-102919-am.pdfhttps://www.lafd.org/news/getty-fire https://www.cbsnews.com/live-news/fire-in-california-latest-getty-kincade-sonoma-tick-fires-evacuations-today-live-updates-2019-10-29/