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Firefighters have gained a stronger foothold in holding back the 76,000-acre Kincade Fire that has ripped through Sonoma County, bringing containment figures to 45 percent overnight on Wednesday, staving off flames from population hotspots and allowing thousands of residents who had been evacuated to return to their homes.
By Thursday morning, containment had jumped to 45 percent, Cal Fire said, and Sonoma County authorities had lifted many of the evacuation orders that had at one point covered virtually half of the county.
Residents are being allowed back to their homes in Healdsburg, Windsor, Geyserville and Sebastopol, as well as the portions of Santa Rosa that were evacuated. Evacuation warnings remain in effect for Healdsburg, Windsor and Geyserville, and much of the Alexander Valley and the now fire-scarred mountains to the east are still under evacuation orders.
Winds are forecast to continue weakening throughout Thursday, but will remain breezy with gusts up to about 20 mph, according to the National Weather Service.
Since breaking out last Wednesday, the flames have ripped through 76,825 acres and destroyed 265 structures, 133 of which are homes and seven of which are commercial buildings. Another 90,015 structures remain threatened by the fire’s path, Cal Fire said.
Crews had prepared for a difficult battle with winds reaching speeds of up to 40 mph beginning Tuesday afternoon and forecast to grow stronger overnight. The fire’s eastern perimeter continued to push ahead overnight, Cal Fire said, but containment jumped from 15 to 30 percent, and then again up to 45 percent on Wednesday.
Calmer winds helped to ease the battle along the fire’s southern perimeter near Windsor and the eastern portion near Middletown, said Cal Fire public information officer Edwin Zuniga.
Crews still expected winds to continue to be an issue through 4 p.m. Wednesday, along with drier vegetation following several days of whipping winds.
“This wind event was going to be the last wind test on certain areas that haven’t been tested … and we knew that if we got through this without any significant increase in the fire activity or acreage burned, it’s definitely great news for us,” said Zuniga.
With the red flag warning still in effect until the late afternoon Wednesday, crews will work to secure perimeters around population centers in the south and eastern portion of the fire, Zuniga said. Inspectors will also continue to canvass neighborhoods — some which only recently became safe to access — to inspect structures that may have been damaged or destroyed.
In Windsor, council members, city employees and Sonoma County firefighters stood at an exit of Highway 101 into the center of town Wednesday afternoon with a sign reading “welcome home Windsor residents,” greeting those who had evacuated.
“We were told to expect massive losses in Windsor, and we were preparing for that. A wall of fire hit the northern part of our town,” said Mayor Dominic Foppoli. “The best part now is we get to welcome residents home to the same beautiful town they left.”
Along the fire’s southwestern perimeter on Mark Springs Road, the dying winds came as a welcome reprieve after crews geared up for the worst, said Santa Rosa Fire Captain Jack Thomas Wednesday morning.
The area had been ravaged in 2017 by the Tubbs Fire, and crews worried that strong northeast wind currents could push the fire down the canyon.
“These guys got in there and did a lot of work to make sure that there was nothing on the lines should we have any type of fire or winds come through here,” Thomas said.
Residents felt a sense of relief, too. For the second time in two years, Jeri and Tony Deatherage watched from their Badass Coffee shop as residents across the street in the Larkfield-Wikiup area returned home following a wildfire that threatened their area.
But this time around, residents would be coming home to find their newly rebuilt — or still under construction — homes untouched, the couple said.
“Its a huge relief,” said Jeri, as she made another pot of coffee on Wednesday morning.
Although their store has been under an evacuation order for more than four days, the couple returned on Tuesday morning to check in. When a firefighter stopped to ask for a cup of coffee, they immediately opened their doors — and have remained open for more than 24 hours straight since.
“There was no second-guessing,” Tony said, handing out free coffee and pastries to any firefighters and first responders who stopped in.
“It’s just sad that October has become such a stressful month,” Jeri said. “In all the years that I’ve lived here, this has not been the norm … I guess life is changing.”
Throughout Wednesday, existing winds are forecast to push smoke offshore to the west, which will help improve air quality after several days of “Spare the Air” alerts, according to the National Weather Service’s Drew Peterson.
Air quality remains at levels unhealthy for sensitive groups in the North Bay, and dry air means that fires can still spread rapidly over the next few days, the NWS warned.
But looking back over the past day, Peterson said, weather officials are “incredibly impressed” with how firefighters managed to secure the lines overnight in the face of ferocious winds.
“By mid to late morning the winds will more or less have ended,” Peterson said. “We’re at the tail end of this.”
Check back for updates.
