Three massive fires continued to burn across the Bay Area Saturday morning, forcing thousands of people from their homes and scorching more than 650,000 acres stretching from Napa and Sonoma counties down to the San Mateo County coast and the Santa Cruz Mountains.
Some 3,200 firefighters have been deployed to fight fires, which were started earlier this week by what state officials have called a “lightning siege.” So far, the fires have killed at least four civilians, including three in Napa County and one in Solano County. A PG&E worker in Solano County and a helicopter pilot near Fresno have also died fighting the fires.
Statewide, 12,000 firefighters have been deployed to fight 560 fires, including at least two dozen “complex” fires. The three largest of those are the LNU, SCU, and CZU complex fires in the Bay Area:
- The LNU Complex has burned 314,207 acres across Napa, Solano, Sonoma, Lake and Yolo counties as of 7 a.m. Saturday, spreading about 12,000 acres overnight, and has caused four civilian casualties. So far 560 structures have been destroyed and 30,500 are threatened, with the fire remaining at 15% contained.
- The SCU Complex has burned 291,968 acres across Santa Clara, Alameda, San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties, up 17,000 acres overnight, and is 10% contained as of 7 a.m. Saturday. It has destroyed five structures and is threatening 20,065 more, forcing evacuations on the outskirts east of San Jose Thursday night.
- The CZU Complex has burned 63,000 acres across the Santa Cruz mountains and in parts of San Mateo County as of 6 a.m. Saturday, forcing the evacuation of more than 77,000 residents, including students and faculty at the UC Santa Cruz campus. The fire, which is 5% contained, has destroyed 97 structures and threatens about 24,000.
Follow below for the latest updates, and explore the map to see where fires are burning.
UPDATE 10:30 a.m. | Smaller fires merge; SCU and LNU Complexes expected to balloon
Cal Fire officials expect “significant” fire growth in the LNU Complex over the next 24 hours as flames on the north side of Lake Berryessa have merged into the Hennessey Fire near large swaths of timber.
The LNU Complex grew by about 12,000 acres overnight to 314,207 acres across Napa, Solano, Sonoma, Lake and Yolo counties, prompting new evacuation orders in some parts of Sonoma County even as others lifted.
#LNULightningComplex – EVACUATION UPDATE – Sonoma County#CALFIRE#CALFIRELNU pic.twitter.com/f2CQY3LCBi
— CAL FIRE LNU (@CALFIRELNU) August 22, 2020
Despite a night of good moisture, the SCU Complex meanwhile grew by about 17,000 acres overnight, burning a total of 291,968 acres across Santa Clara, Alameda, San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties. The blaze is expected to pick up again when smoke clears the area today and temperatures rise.
UPDATE 8:00 a.m. | Firefighters make progress on CZU Complex
Firefighters reported progress for the first time Saturday in containing the collection of fires raging across Santa Cruz and San Mateo counties, but warned that the trend could quickly change with weather conditions.
Calmer winds, lower temperatures and moisture from the marine layer allowed crews to form stronger fire lines from Davenport to La Honda against the 63,000-acre CZU Complex fire, Cal Fire officials said in a 6 a.m. briefing Saturday. The blaze is about 5% contained and has destroyed 97 structures.
The weather “gave us an opportunity to get a hold of, and get some lines constructed, and get a little bit of a toehold into this incident,” said Cal Fire Battalion Chief Mark Brunton, adding, “A really big win for us yesterday, fantastic job by our folks.”
UPDATE 6:50 P.M. | Crew battle to save homes in Sonoma County
Firefighters Friday evening remained focused on keeping the Walbridge Fire out of Healdsburg and Guerneville. Several homes and other structures along Wallace Creek Road in Healdsburg already had been destroyed and hotspots were still smoldering Friday. On Chemise Road, fire crews were working to protect homes along the ridge from encroaching flames while planes dropped loads of scarlet flame retardant in the background.
Jen Higgins and Richard Butori of Lambert Bridge Winery were on Chemise Road Friday evening surveying the winery’s property and trying to assess whether it would make it through the night. In the distance, massive plumes of smoke rose all around them. “I’m so nervous,” Butori said. “I’ve never been this nervous in my entire life.”
They have a 2,000-gallon water truck, with 30,000 gallons of water in reserve in tanks, to wet down the property. But if things get bad, they’ll flee.
— Marisa Kendall
UPDATE 6:40 P.M. | CZU Complex fire 2 percent contained, UC Santa Cruz not threatened
The CZU complex fire in Santa Cruz and San Mateo counties was 2 percent contained on Friday afternoon, according to Cal Fire Chief Bill See. “I know it’s not much but it’s a small win,” See said. “Today was a good day for us.”
According to fire officials, UC Santa Cruz and the city of Santa Cruz are not currently directly threatened by the fire.
UPDATE 6:18 P.M. | Residents east of Hill Road in Morgan Hill urged to self-evacuate
The area east of Hill Road in Morgan Hill remains under an evacuation order as the SCU Lightning Complex Fire burns nearby, but the city is encouraging Jackson Oaks and Holiday Lake Estates residents to leave now as there is only one exit route. “The evacuation warning can change to an evacuation order at any time,” the city said in an advisory.
UPDATE 6:15 P.M. | Looters arrested in Santa Cruz County
Five people were arrested for looting near the CZU Complex fire evacuation area on Fall Creek Road by Santa Cruz Sheriff’s Office deputies, officials said. Deputies detained two cars loaded with what officials said were stolen goods — one car stopped, the other tried to flee but “ended up in a ditch,” the office said on Facebook. The five individuals were arrested on multiple charges of looting, grand theft, conspiracy to commit a crime and burglary.
There are multiple law enforcement officials in the area, according to a sheriff’s office official, but he urged residents who may have doorbell cameras or other video surveillance systems to alert officials if they see any suspicious activity. Investigators also received 19 missing person cases during the fire, and they’ve been able to resolve all but two of them.
UPDATE: 5:30 P.M. | SCU and LNU complex fires are now the 7th, 10th largest fires in state history
The SCU and LNU lightning complex fires now rank as the seventh and tenth-largest wildfires in recorded California history, Cal Fire said in a tweet Friday afternoon. As of Friday afternoon, the SCU fire had burned 229,968 acres and was 10 percent contained. The LNU fire had consumed 219,067 acres and was 7 percent contained. The SCU fire is now larger than the 2018 Carr Fire, which burned 229,651 acres, destroyed 1,614 structures and killed eight people. At 459,000 acres, the 2018 Mendocino Complex Fire remains the largest on record.
Under extreme weather conditions, significant fire growth has broken the records as 2 of the lightning complexes have made CA's Top 20 Largest Wildfire List. As of today, the #SCULightningComplex is now the 7th largest fire in CA history and the #LNULightningComplex is the 10th pic.twitter.com/vsdM9VNz4b
— CAL FIRE (@CAL_FIRE) August 21, 2020
UPDATE: 5:20 P.M. | Three Napa County casualties died together
Three people killed in the Hennessey Fire this week — the first civilian victims of the large complex fires throughout the Bay Area — died at the same home in remote Napa County, authorities said Friday. Officials did not provide any additional details on the ages or genders of the victims, or whether they were related. Read more here.
— Nico Savidge
UPDATE 4:05 P.M. | Downtown Scotts Valley, Felton and others in Santa Cruz County seem to be safe, for now
FELTON — As of Friday afternoon, the flames of the CZU August Lightning Complex Fire were not posing a major threat to the small downtown areas of Santa Cruz County along Highway 9, including Scotts Valley, Felton, Ben Lomond, Brookdale and Boulder Creek. In Felton, most of the fire district’s volunteer firefighters were playing a game of “hurry up and wait,” according to firefighter Ian Jones, who said they’d only had to handle one spot fire within the town boundaries since Sunday.
“At the moment we’re not too worried about this coming and affecting any of our structures,” Jones said. “Obviously this is all very fluid and weather dynamics change but that’s where we’re at now.”
Still, some homes and even a few entire neighborhoods tucked in the middle of the heavily forested area of Boulder Creek had been wiped out by the blaze, including parts of Empire Grade Road and the Fallen Leaf neighborhood off of Highway 236. One of the volunteer firefighters was among those who had lost their home and with it memories that can’t be replaced, said Retired Boulder Creek Fire Protection District Chief Sam Robustelli. “But then again, they’re alive and they can rebuild,” he said.
— Maggie Angst
UPDATE 3:55 P.M. | Evacuation warning issued for Merced County
An evacuation warning has been issued in the SCU Lightning Complex fire for Merced County residents, including those north of Highway 152 to I-5 and to the Santa Clara and Stanislaus county lines, as well as those west of I-5 — excluding the community of Santa Nella.
UPDATE 3:20 P.M. | For Healdsburg, new fire brings difficult memories of the Kincaid destruction
HEALDSBURG — Robin Froman was buying groceries at the Safeway at Vine and W. Matheson streets in Healdsburg on Friday morning when she stopped to thank some firefighters there stocking up on food and ice before heading back out to battle the fire. The 68-year-old retiree from Texas knows how destructive these fires can be. Her house, on Toyon Drive in a rural, unincorporated area east of Healdsburg, suffered heavy damage during the Kincade Fire last fall.
Last time, she evacuated to a friend’s house in Napa. Two days later, she saw her house on the news, inside the area of a controlled burn set by firefighters to head off the wildfire and prevent it from hitting the Fitch Mountain area. “We lost a stone patio, wooden deck, we lost everything in the garden. It came right up to the house,” Froman said. The interior of the house suffered heavy water and smoke damage. Now she’s once watching a new blaze threaten her home yet again.
This is also the second evacuation warning in less than a year for Carl Downey, 74, who said he would consider leaving Healdsburg if he didn’t have a reverse mortgage on his condo. He also evacuated during the Kincade Fire. “I’m getting a little tired of this,” said Downey, who now has a suitcase with three days worth of clothes packed and ready to go. A box full of his checkbook and other important papers is sitting in his truck.
Many of the houses on Wallace Creek Road, a wooded area of winding roads and large, secluded houses just outside Healdsburg, were destroyed. One resident sat on the railing of the bridge leading to his house — which miraculously survived the flames. The resident, who didn’t want to give his name, mostly lives in San Francisco and had been sheltering in place during the pandemic with his husband in their Healdsburg weekend home. They evacuated Wednesday night and expected to find it destroyed on Friday. The relief was bittersweet, although he said he has no plans to sell the house.
“Honestly, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to feel comfortable here,” the resident said. “Look at my neighbors’ homes. Those are my friends. Even if our home survives, it’s not going to be a happy place.”
— Marisa Kendall
UPDATE: 2:55 P.M. | Fire evacuations in San Mateo County hit struggling low-income families
HALF MOON BAY — Rita Mancera is the executive director of the nonprofit Puente, which has been helping families in south San Mateo County — many of them immigrants who work as cooks and house cleaners and have already been hit hard by coronavirus pandemic’s economic devastation — escape the fires.
But even as she races to find hotels or gift cards for families in Pescadero, La Honda and elsewhere, she’s too had to evacuate with her husband and son after the Butano Creek Girl Scout Camp where they live came into serious danger of burning Friday. She told her 13-year-old son he could only bring one suitcase, but the teen eventually talked her into three, packing music and other cherished belongings.
“I’m not worried about the material stuff,” Mancera said as she ate a burrito for a late lunch at an evacuation center at Half Moon Bay High School. But she is worried about how to help a community already hard-hit by the pandemic and now potentially facing weeks of evacuation and uncertainty. Some have lost their homes in a region where, she said, “housing is already limited and expensive.”
The reactions of evacuees, she said, have varied from shock to sobbing in the parking lot to stoicism, telling her, “We’ve been through so much already, we’re going through this now and we’re going to be fine.”
— Emily DeRuy
UPDATE 2:30 P.M. | Vacaville evacuation orders lifted
All evacuation orders within Vacaville’s city limits were lifted around 1:05 p.m. Friday, the city’s police department announced on Twitter, adding that “all residents are clear to return to their homes.”
UPDATE 2:25 P.M. | San Jose mayor urges residents to prepare ahead of possible thunderstorms
San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo warned residents to prepare to evacuate this weekend as dry thunderstorms are forecast for Sunday afternoon and Monday. No evacuation orders have been issued within city limits, but he urged residents of Alum Rock, Evergreen and The Villages to “have their bags packed.” He also cautioned residents south of the city, around Coyote Valley and Morgan Hill, to go stay with a family member or a friend if they can, especially if they are older or have physical limitations.
“Take the worry out and simply make sure your home is well prepared, turning off the gas and doing all of the things you need to do now and move on,” Liccardo said on Facebook Live Friday afternoon. “If you’re able to evacuate within a few hours, wait for the evacuation order and do it then. It is your discretion, but we would encourage folks to really make sure you have clear plans about where you can stay and where you can go.”
— Erin Woo
UPDATE 2:00 P.M. | Families evacuate Bonny Doon
LOS ALTOS — Mary and Rick Lyons had already left their Bonny Doon home for Costonoa earlier this week after losing power. On Tuesday night, they had to move again with flames encroaching on their Pescadero camping site.
“There was just a ridge of flames, and the fire was coming over the ridge all around us,” Mary said. “It was pretty scary. Police had already come into the campground to tell us we needed to leave, and as we were driving out, we couldn’t even drive south on Highway 1 because it was closed. We were going to go back to Bonny Doon, but thank God we didn’t.”
The couple is staying with one son and daughter-in-law in Los Altos. Their other son and his wife also evacuated Bonny Doon with their Airstream trailer early Wednesday morning when they woke up to see the house across from them on fire. The two of them are waiting out the fires in a parking lot in Santa Cruz. The Lyons live in an area of Bonny Doon that for the most part has escaped the flames, Mary said, but it’s still nerve-wracking hoping that their just-built house will survive.
“If we lose it, it will not be an easy thing, but there are people who have lost everything already,” Mary said.
— Erin Woo
UPDATE 12:20 P.M. | 12,000 firefighters deployed, California requests aid from other states and abroad as fires grow
State and federal officials at a midday news conference outlined massive efforts to combat 560 fires that have burned 771,000 acres in California started by 12,000 lightning strikes earlier this week, including three major complex fires in the Bay Area. The number of firefighters at the 219,067 acre LNU Complex, which is now 7% contained fire, doubled in the past 24 hours to more than 1,000 personnel, officials said.
Gov. Gavin Newsom praised firefighters and other emergency responders, saying the scale of the wildfires had stretched state resources to the limit.
“I was down in Santa Clara yesterday meeting with some San Jose firefighters that looked completely wiped, that said ‘We need more support,'” Newsom said.
“They were simply overwhelmed by what they saw.”
Statewide, officials said 12,000 firefighters have been deployed, using 96% of all available CalFire resources — including some engines the state was in the process of selling off. The state has also received aid from Arizona, Oregon, Washington, Texas, Nevada and New Mexico, and reached out for assistance to Canada and Australia, the governor said. He also thanked President Donald Trump for the federal government’s assistance.
“We’ve always said this, no politics in this space. We’ll defend ourselves, we’ll defend our values and we’ll defend the facts,” Newsom said.
Rep. Mike Thompson, whose district includes all of Napa County as well as other affected areas, said he has legislation ready to go if the wildfires are declared a natural emergency, which would provide further financial relief for police response in affected counties.
UPDATE 11:15 A.M. | North Bay firefighters hope for more help to protect Russian River towns
Shorthanded firefighters in the North Bay hope they’ll soon get reinforcements from around the state to protect Russian River communities directly in the path of the massive LNU complex fires, which now covers more than 200,000 acres. When the fire covered about 140,000 acres earlier this week there were fewer than 600 firefighters working to contain it, according to Cal Fire Lake-Napa Unit spokesman Scott Ross.
“That’s nothing,” Ross said. Officials hope that as crews around the state get a better handle on some of the hundreds of fires burning across California, they’ll redeploy to the North Bay. “We’re hopefully going to get some relief here soon,” Ross said.
Two fires make up the vast majority of the complex, with the Wallbridge Fire in Sonoma County firefighters’ top priority as it moves south toward Guerneville and Rio Nido. Evacuation orders have been issued for much of the Russian River area, with warnings east to Healdsburg and Highway 101. “It’s all narrow roads and hills and trees,” Ross said of the region. “It’s just a nightmare to try to evacuate that area … and to get in there and put anything out”
The larger Hennessey Fire that covers parts of Napa, Sonoma, Lake and Solano counties continues to grow in mountainous areas with few homes or residents, Ross said, after burning homes in suburban neighborhoods near Vacaville earlier in the week.
— Nico Savidge
UPDATE 11:00 A.M. | Fire near Point Reyes National Seashore 0% contained, evacuations ordered
A fire in a remote area of the Point Reyes National Seashore has burned through 2,100 acres and remains 0% contained, sending smoke into Marin and San Francisco counties. The three hand crews and 15 engines working received air support against the fire Thursday, and a federal management team is expected to assist on Sunday.
Marin County Fire has issued an evacuation warning in a nearly 12-mile stretch west of Shoreline Highway, from Sir Francis Drake Boulevard in Olema south to Bolinas.
UPDATE 10:40 A.M. | Fixed-wing plane finally able to deploy in CZU Complex
SCOTTS VALLEY — The smoke from the CZU Complex fire bearing down on Boulder Creek and Ben Lomond finally cleared out enough late Thursday for a fixed-wing plane to drop retardant, Cal Fire PIO Dan Olson said Friday morning. That comes as weather reports predict the area’s marine layer will return to normal this weekend and the fire burning southeasterly towards more populated areas near the UC Santa Cruz campus and Scotts Valley may turn further east. Those positive developments were tempered by the destruction caused by the fire overnight.
“The fire made significant runs through neighborhoods in Boulder and Empire Grade and around the golf course (near Boulder Creek),” Olson said, although he didn’t know what damage to homes may have been done.
— Julia Sulek
UPDATE 10:20 A.M. | Some evacuation orders lifted in Napa County
Evacuation orders have been lifted for the portion of Silverado Trail between Rosedale Road and Highway 29, fire officials announced Friday morning. Evacuation orders from Silverado Trail to the Lake County line — not including Calistoga — are still in effect.
UPDATE 9:45 A.M. | New evacuations ordered in Sonoma County
Residents in Pocket Canyon and anywhere else between the Russian River and Highway 116, as far east as Martinelli Road, were ordered to evacuate Friday morning. Officials also issued new evacuation warnings, where residents should be ready to flee in a moment’s notice.
Click here for the latest Sonoma County evacuation map.
#LNULightningComplex – Evacuation Update – Sonoma County#CALFIRE#CALFIRELNU pic.twitter.com/tm8ssSdKLD
— CAL FIRE (@CAL_FIRE) August 21, 2020
UPDATE 7:20 a.m. | SCU Complex expands by 70,000 acres overnight
The first structural damage from the SCU Complex fires burning in Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa, Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties was reported Friday morning.
The flames expanded their territory overnight by more than 70,000 acres, leaving five buildings scorched in their wake and growing to 229,968 acres in total size. Most of the flames were burning in rural San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties, but the Calaveras Zone fires, just over the hillside from San Jose, forced evacuations Thursday night on the eastern edges of the city limits.
The Reservoir Fire in the Calaveras Zone had grown to 51,619 acres and was 10% contained, while the more remote Canyon Zone fires had burned 174,866 acres with 0% containment. The Deer Zone fires, near Brentwood, hadn’t grown in 24 hours and were 99% contained Friday morning.
Fire crews anticipated northwest winds to impact the flames in the Calaveras Zone and the Deer Zone. When “fuels, winds and topography are in alignment,” fire officials wrote in an update Friday morning, “expect critical rates of spread … and an increase in fire activity.”
UPDATE 7:10 a.m. | LNU Complex spreads modestly overnight
Firefighters increased their containment of the LNU Complex fires to 7%, while the flames grew by about 4,000 acres overnight to a total of 219,067 between Napa, Sonoma, Solano, Lake and Yolo counties.
The “extreme behavior” of the fire had flames moving in all directions and threatening multiple communities. CalFire officials said they expected “significant fire growth.”
The Walbridge Fire was among fire crews’ highest priorities. It had already consumed 21,125 acres and was heading toward Healdsburg with 0% containment Friday morning.
North of Lake Berryessa, seven smaller blazes had merged to form the Hennessey Fire, which had consumed the majority of land burned in the LNU Complex at about 194,942 acres.
UPDATE 6:30 a.m. | Destruction from CZU Complex expected in ‘triple digits’
Despite a warning Thursday evening that the CZU Complex could begin to burn between 700 and 1,000 acres every hour, it grew by just 2,000 acres by Friday morning, thanks to a marine layer overnight, according to CalFire officials.
But once it dissipated, the fire was raging as ferociously as ever before, reaching 50,000 acres in size by 6 a.m. Friday still with zero containment. It was burning most intensely on the eastern edge of the flames, near Boulder Creek, Ben Lomond and further south, fire officials said.
At least 50 structures had been confirmed to have been destroyed, but CalFire deputy chief Jonathan Cox said crews “anticipate that will go into the triple digits” once they are able to get a complete picture of the destruction.
Already shortstaffed, fire crews had to dedicate personnel to make three rescues of people who didn’t heed mandatory evacuation orders, which had expanded to include more than 60,000 residents in San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties.
“I know they’re trying to do the right thing for their property and their neighbors, but in the long run it’s created a bigger problem for the first responders,” Chief Mark Brunton said. “Because of that, it took our firefighters away from the firefight to rescue them and put first responders and firefighters or law enforcement brothers and sisters into danger to rescue them out of that situation.”
About 70 firefighters were going door-to-door in Scotts Valley overnight to finish evacuating the 12,000 some residents on the southern edge of the blaze. That evening, officials expanded mandatory evacuation orders to include the wooded campus of UC Santa Cruz.
Officials warned residents it could be “weeks” before they are able to return to their homes.
Half Moon Bay High School, which had been set up as an evacuation center on Wednesday, was already full. There was a new evacuation center being set up at the San Mateo County Events Center.
Santa Cruz County on Thursday asked all overnight visitors to abandon their hotel rooms in order to free up space for new evacuees and for all potential tourists to avoid the area.
A quick fire update from PIO Dan Olson. #CZULightningComplex pic.twitter.com/sxhChj2Lmr
— CAL FIRE CZU (@CALFIRECZU) August 21, 2020
