Updates: Sonoma County sheriff’s deputies patrolling evacuated areas
5:50 PM: Sonoma County sheriff deputies receive help from San Francisco officers to patrol evacuated areas
Sonoma County sheriff’s deputies helping to patrol evacuated areas and otherwise assist the emergency response as uncontrolled wildfires rage for a fourth day are being assisted by more than 70 peace officers on loan from the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department and San Francisco Police, local Sheriff Mark Essick said in a videotaped Facebook post Thursday.
More than 70 Sonoma County deputies also were patrolling neighborhoods emptied or threatened by fires in the heavily wooded hills west of Healdsburg, where the Walbridge fire produced significant smoke Thursday, as well near Russian River communities on the south and north of the Jenner, around the 3,000-acre Meyers fire.
During various speaking engagements Thursday, Essick said peace officers were on hand to provide assistance, guidance and protection to areas that have been evacuated and urged those who have pulled over on the sides of roads and highways to observe fires or take photos to resist the urge and leave.
He also noted that reports already had arisen of people returning to evacuation zones and requiring rescue, creating “a secondary burden” for police and fire safety personnel.
“This is a reminder,” Essick said in his Facebook post. “Evac zones are dangerous. Please stay out of evacuation zones so fire safety personnel and public safety officers can get in there and fight the fire. Please take care of yourself. Take care of your neighbors.”
4:40 PM: Evacuation warning canceled for hills west of Oakville, Rutherford
Napa County has canceled its evacuation warning for an area west of Highway 29 near Oakville Grade after crews contained the Mondavi fire, which only burned about 5 acres.
3:50 PM: Evacuation warning issued for lower Lake County
An evacuation warning has been issued for a sizable swath of lower Lake County west of Highway 29 around the community of Middletown. It extends north of the shared boundaries with Sonoma and Napa counties through the middle of Boggs Mountain Demonstration Forest to the intersection of Highway 29 and Hofacker Lane near Lower Lake.
The warning zone includes Middletown and much of the same area that was devastated by the fast-moving Valley fire of 2015, a catastrophic wildfire that consumed 40,000 acres in its first 12 hours and helped usher in a new era of cataclysmic fires in Northern California.
Lake County Sheriff Brian L. Martin earlier Thursday declared a state of emergency in response to the Morgan fire, part of the larger Hennessey wildfire that has burned more than 105,000 acres in Napa County, extending beyond its borders.
The Morgan fire sparked up Tuesday east of Hidden Valley Lake, prompting mandatory evacuations there and in communities east of Highway 29 on Wednesday.
The 4,500-acre Aetna fire also is creeping up past the southern county line.
“We are asking everyone to take preparations in the event that a mandatory evacuation order is issued,” the sheriff’s office said in a Facebook post. “Preparations should include gathering all medications, important documents, making plans for pets, and notifying family members where you may be going. Those requiring additional time to evacuate or those with pets or livestock should leave the area as soon as possible. During a mandatory evacuation, it will be extremely hectic and traffic conditions will be very congested. By evacuating early, you do your part in keeping yourself, your neighbors, and our first responders safe.”
3:30 PM: New fire triggers Napa County warning
Sometime around 1:30 p.m., another entry was added to the list of dangers in the North Bay as a fire broke out on Walnut Lane, off of Oakville Grade in a wooded area behind world-famous Robert Mondavi Winery.
It threatened structures there and began to spread into the steep hills on the west side of Napa Valley.
Soon, multiple aircraft were responding, including three helicopters, and a bulldozer was en route from Cal Fire’s LNU Lightning Complex effort. A Napa County representative put the Mondavi fire, as emergency crews referred to it, at 5 acres and said firefighters were making “good progress” in attacking it.