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Wednesday 30 September 2020
Rapidly spreading flame rollers threaten Northern California wine regions. The violent forest fires only caused severe damage here in 2017. Tens of thousands of people have to flee their homes this time.
The Napa and Sonoma Valley wine regions of California, north of San Francisco, are once again affected by firestorms. The so-called glass fire has already destroyed 80 buildings in the region, the Cal Fire authority said. Nearly 1,500 emergency responders battled the flames, but the blaze that broke out Sunday was still completely out of control, he said.
Tens of thousands of residents had to flee their homes. However, there have been no reports of deaths or missing persons, Sonoma County Sheriff Mark Essick said Tuesday. Meanwhile, a wildfire in Northern California’s Shasta County claimed at least three lives the previous day. The so-called Zogg fire has destroyed nearly 150 buildings in the rural region since Sunday. California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in the affected regions.
Damaged wineries
The Glass fire damaged at least a dozen wineries, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. “It happened very quickly,” he told the Burgess Cellars winery’s Carlton McCoy newspaper about the blaze fueled by violent winds. Parts of the winery, including a warehouse and building from 1880, were destroyed. Of course, they would rebuild and continue operations, McCoy explained.
The region has been hit by regular fires in recent years, particularly severe in 2017 when multiple wildfires in Sonoma, Napa and Santa Rosa destroyed more than 6,000 buildings. Dozens of people died, sometimes 100,000 residents fled the flames.
Sheriff Essick spoke of “fire fatigue” Tuesday. He warned residents to pack their bags anyway and to follow evacuation orders from firefighters.
Dozens of large fires have raged on the west coast of the United States since mid-August. At least 29 people died in the forest fire and thousands of buildings have so far been destroyed. The most serious fires in recent California history in terms of area have already destroyed more than 15,000 square kilometers of land.
