Favorable winds make for progress in wine country fires fights but Nuns Complex flares in Kenwood & City of Sonoma. Death toll hits state record. Updated 9:11 a.m. PDT 10/15/17

This is a continuation of  several lengthy articles we have been updating since Sunday, Oct. 8, and which are now archived. Those articles can be found here:

• N. Calif wine country wildfire situation expected to intensify as wind picks up.
• Fires continue to grow; Red Flag Warning Tonight + Today’s current fire maps and status updates – Updated 6:26 am PDT 10/13/17
• Fire pushes into City of Sonoma’s NE corner driven by Red Flag winds. Containment advances on other fires. Death toll rises — Updated 5:36 pm PDT 10/14/17

ALSO SEE: Status on 56 wineries (and wine businesses): Good, bad or gone – UPDATED 5:03.m., Oct. 14

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By Lewis Perdue, Wine Industry Insight Executive Editor/Publisher

SUMMARY:

Red Flag winds incited numerous new hotspots in the Nuns / Adobe / Norbbom/ Pressley / Partrick Fire Complex while the Atlas fire remained relatively stable (scroll down to maps). The death toll is approaching a state record.*

Increased fire line containments and favorable weather offer firefighters an opportunity to make continuing progress.

Efforts were successful to beat back a Nuns fire intrusion into the northeast portion of the city of Sonoma. However stiff Red Flag winds pushed fires down into Sonoma Valley north of Kenwood and created a new fire east of Oakmont.  The death toll has approached or exceeded state records.

STATUS UPDATE:

• Death toll*: 35 (Sheriffs statements – Sonoma County: 22, Mendocino County:9, Napa County: 6)
  
• Containment (CalFire):  Tubbs at 60%, Atlas at 56%, Nuns at 25%
• Acres Burned (CalFire): 184,296 (162,205 on 10/13 — 156,365 on 10/12 — 152,816 on 10/11) Scroll down for containment and detailed fire-by-fire info, below maps.
• Wineries damaged or destroyed (click for updates)
• People Evacuated: 90,000+ (Sheriffs)
• People without power: 20,000 (PG&E)
• Structures damaged: 5.700+ (A deliriously optimistic understatement from officials since no one really knows yet)
• Weather: Issued: 8:06 AM PDT Oct. 15, 2017 – National Weather Service: Although locally breezy conditions are still possible for portions of the North Bay mountains, conditions will continue to improve through the day. Winds will generally be under 10 mph in all locations by this afternoon.

* According to  Cal Fire, the current fires have caused the largest death toll of any wildfire since accurate records were kept: California wildfires.

 

In addition, the death toll has exceeded the Griffith Park Fire which is considered the state’s largest single deadly fire with an official toll of 29.

 

Additional deaths in current fires in Yuba and Butte Counties have pushed the overall Northern California wildfire death toll to at least 40.

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RECENT SIGNIFICANT INCIDENT NOTICES: Go to Nixle and get local push alerts: text your zip code to 888777

None.

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This interactive map below from National Wildfire Coordinating Group. Right click maps to view a larger image or go to interactive version.

Other maps as we find them at bottom of this article

DETAILED FIRE INFO FROM CAL FIRE

NOTE: The acreage and containment for some of the fires is exactly the same as yesterday afternoon. We expect those will change this morning. Check back here after 9 a.m. when new numbers are likely to be available.

 

Tubbs Fire (Central LNU Complex) Updated: October 15, 2017 7:21 am
County: Napa County
Location: off of Hwy 128 and Bennett Ln, Calistoga
Acres Burned – 35,470 acres – 60% contained

 

Pocket Fire (Central LNU Complex ) Updated: October 15, 2017 7:23 am
County: Sonoma County
Location: off of Pocket Ranch Rd and Ridge Ranch Rd, Geyserville
Acres Burned – 11,246 acres – 25% contained

 

Atlas Fire (Southern LNU Complex) Updated: October 15, 2017 6:31 am
County: Napa County,Solano County
Location: off of Altas Peak Rd, south of Lake Berryessa
Acres Burned – 51,057 acres – 56% contained

 

Nuns / Adobe / Norbbom/ Pressley / Partrick Fires (Central LNU Complex) Updated: October 15, 2017 7:22 am
County: Sonoma County
Location: Hwy 12, north of Glen Ellen
Acres Burned – Containment – 47,106 acres – 25% contained

 

Oakmont Fire (Central LNU Complex): more info…     Updated: October 15, 2017 7:21 am
County:     Sonoma County
Location:     east side of Highway 12 near the Oakmont community  southeast of Santa Rosa
Acres Burned:     550 acres- 10% containment

 

Redwood / Potter Fires (Mendocino Lake Complex) Updated: October 15, 2017 7:56 am
County: Mendocino County
Location: North of Hwy 20, west of Mendocino National Forest, south of Black Bart
Acres Burned:t 35,000 acres – 35% contained

 

Sulphur Fire (Mendocino Lake Complex) October 15, 2017 7:47 am
County: Lake County
Location: off Hwy 20 and Sulphur Bank Road, Clearlake Oaks
Acres Burnedt: 2,207 – 75% contained

 

37 Fire: Updated: October 12, 2017 9:02 am
County: Sonoma County
Location: Hwy 37 & Lakeville Highway
Acres Burned – Containment: 1,660 acres – 90% contained

EVACUATION ZONES

Zones are so numerous and frequently updated that the best option is to check directly with the authorities whose links re below.

Cal Fire does offer some summaries which we will post here when they are available. But the most recent information will come from local fire and law enforcement agencies.

 

 

Information Links

NAPA COUNTY

Napa County Sheriff’s Office:

SONOMA COUNTY

Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office

SONOMA CITY

City of Sonoma — A mostly poorly done effort with incomplete data and lacking both timeliness and specific information.

MENDOCINO COUNTY

LAKE COUNTY

Lake County CA Sheriff’s Department

SOLANO COUNTY

Fairfield, CA Police

Solano Sheriff

Twitter accounts & #hashtags

#sonomafire

Santa Rosa

@ MendoSheriff

@ CityofNapa

#GOES16

@ NWSBayArea

From Sonoma County

News Links

• ABC7
• NBC
• KPIX-CBS
• KRON4.com (CPU overload with too many crappy flash and animations running.)