12 October 2017
‘Diablo’ wind expected to spread deadly California wildfires
A devilish wind known as the “Diablo” picked up again Thursday in California, where firefighters continued battling killer wildfires that were expected to spread — and even merge — amid dry conditions.
At least 23 people have died and about 3,500 homes and businesses have been destroyed in the conflagration that has consumed about 170,000 acres of wine country.
With winds of up to 45 mph expected to pummel arid areas north of San Francisco, the modest gains made by overmatched firefighters could be erased, officials said.
“It’s going to continue to get worse before it gets better,” said state fire Chief Ken Pimlott as the inferno raged for a fourth day.
While the cause of the fires has not been conclusively determined, they are believed to have been sparked by power lines toppled by gale-force winds — and fanned by hot, dry “Diablo” offshore winds, Reuters reported.
New advisory evacuations were issued in hard-hit Sonoma County for parts of Santa Rosa, the largest city in the state’s world-renowned wine country, and Geyserville, a town of 800 people.
“The winds are predicted to be very erratic,” said county spokesman Barry Dugan. “There will be burst of high gusts that can be … very unpredictable and difficult when you are fighting a fire and also for residents who we are trying to keep posted.”
More than 285 people were still missing in Sonoma County, the sheriff tweeted, though it was unclear how many might be fire victims rather than evacuees who had not checked in with authorities.
County officials expect the death toll of 13 to rise when authorities begin sifting through the “hot zones” that were immolated in the firestorm.
“We can’t even get into most of the areas,” Sonoma County Sheriff Robert Giordano said, the Washington Post reported. “When we start doing searches, I expect that number to go up.”
The so-called Tubbs Fire — one of nearly two-dozen blazes spanning eight counties — invaded Santa Rosa, where it torched entire neighborhoods.
Residents have been told to clear out of the community of Boyes Hot Springs in Sonoma County, where streets were quickly lined with vehicles packed with fleeing people.
“That’s very bad,” resident Nick Hinman said when a deputy warned him that the driving winds could shift the wildfires toward the town of Sonoma, where 11,000 people live. “It’ll go up like a candle.”
Alejandro Rodriguez had been evacuated from one tiny Sonoma Valley town, only to have police come to the neighborhood where he had relocated and tell people to move out.
“I want to see my house, see if anything’s left,” Rodriguez said, gesturing at officers at one roadblock. “They won’t tell us nothing.”
Meanwhile, it was reported Thursday that Sonoma County officials had considered sending a mass alert to cell phones across the region to warn of the rapidly spreading flames.
But county officials decided against it, worried that doing so might spark widespread panic and hinder the ability of firefighters to combat the flames, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
It was unclear how much that decision may have affected area residents’ responses to the wildfires, particularly since many cell phone towers were destroyed in the blaze, making such messages undeliverable.
Officials said they were worried that the 22 separate blazes would merge into massive infernos.
“We have had big fires in the past. This is one of the biggest, most serious, and it’s not over,” Gov. Jerry Brown said.
With Post Wires
