How to resolve AdBlock issue? The work of firefighters kept the Kincade fire’s growth to less than 2,000 acres in the 24-hour period from Monday night to Tuesday night.
On Tuesday night, the fire’s size was up to 76,138 acres, with containment remaining at 15 percent.
Ongoing damage assessments put the number of destroyed structures in Sonoma County up to 189 as of Tuesday night; of those, 86 are residence and seven are commercial, with 96 other types of buildings. The number of damaged structures is now at 39 – 26 homes, one commercial and 12 other types.
Cal Fire said the number of firefighters increased further on Tuesday, now totaling 4,870 personnel, along with 558 engines, 48 water tenders, 27 helicopters, 91 hand crews and 67 dozers.
Cal Fire Division Chief Jonathan Cox said the Kincade fire has made it to the edge of the Tubbs burn scar from 2017.
Lake County Sheriff Brian Martin said the fire is inside of south Lake County but on Tuesday he was getting reports that firefighters were getting decent containment lines around it.
The fire’s entry into the south county on Friday prompted Martin to issue evacuation warnings first for Cobb Mountain and surrounding communities and then the Middletown area over the weekend. Those warnings remained in effect late Tuesday.
The Middletown Unified School District reported Tuesday that all schools will remain closed until the evacuation warnings are lifted.
During a Tuesday evening briefing on Pacific Gas and Electric’s ongoing public safety power shutoff, Mark Quinlan, the company’s senior director of emergency preparedness and response, said the California Office of Emergency Services requested that PG&E help scope out areas for more evacuation shelters and size generators for them should they be needed in Lake County.
However, conditions on the fire improved to the point that on Tuesday Sonoma County officials were able to downgrade the northern part of Dry Creek Valley from an evacuation order to a warning, allowing thousands of people to go home.
The area is still at risk from the fire, so Sonoma County Sheriff Mark Essick urged people to use caution and be alert as they headed home.
He said more than 260 deputies and officers from allied law enforcement agencies, plus 200 National Guard members, are patrolling the evacuation areas.
And they’re not just keeping an eye out for potential looting, but in various cases have offered other help. Essick said Alameda County Sheriff’s deputies helped ranchers feed their cattle and other deputies were assisting returning residents with cutting down downed trees.
Essick said that on Tuesday his agency took three reports of looting in evacuation areas. He described the cases as cold burglary reports made after residents returned to find their homes or businesses had been broken into and items taken.
He said all cases will be investigated and if arrests are made, they will prosecute the responsible individuals to the fullest extent of the law.
The number of arrests for unauthorized entry into evacuation areas remained unchanged at three on Tuesday, Essick said.
Ryan Walburn of the National Weather Service said red flag conditions over the fire area and the region will continue until 4 p.m. Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Walburn said they were monitoring wind gusts of about 50 miles per hour around Mount St. Helena and about 30 miles per hour in the center of the fire.
Walburn said the winds are expected to die down on Wednesday.
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