Cal Fire crews work to contain Toll Fire in Napa County; evacuation warnings remain
Cal Fire crews responded to a wind-driven fire in Napa County on Tuesday that was near the community of Calistoga.
Cal Fire named it the Toll Fire and said about 50 acres had burned as of 12:16 p.m. The fire was burning in a southwest direction and firefighters were using seven fixed-wing aircraft and three helicopters to fight the fire. The total number of personnel on the fire was 300.
By 4:30 p.m., crews had stopped the fire's forward progress and worked containment to 10%. Cal Fire said they also mapped the acreage better and updated the acres burned to 40.
Around 5:30 p.m., Cal Fire there were updates to evacuation orders and warnings.
Evacuation orders were changed to Evacuation warnings for the following zones.
- Zone- NPA-E113- North, South and East of Lake County Hwy and West of Palisades Rd
- Zone- NPA- E103- North of Old Lawley Toll, South of Hwy 29/Oat Hill Rd and Easy of Lake County Hwy
Evacuation warnings were lifted for some areas.
- Zone- NPA-E104-North, South and East of Livermore Rd and West of Oat Hill Rd
- Zone- NPA-E105- North of Lake County Hwy, South of Livermore Rd, East of Lake County Hwy and West of Oat Hill Rd.
The fire was initially reported at 9:42 a.m. in the area of Old Lawley Toll Road, Cal Fire said. The county sent out an alert around 10:30 a.m., initially saying there were no evacuations underway or structures threatened.
About an hour later, the county had issued mandatory evacuations and warnings.
An evacuation center was open at the Calistoga Community Center at 1307 Washington Street in Calistoga.
Winds pushing to the southwest were driving the fire. Cal Fire said there was a potential impact to 114 people in the evacuation order & warning zones. Residents were directed to visit readynapacounty.org for more emergency information.
Heavy smoke was reported in the area, including in neighboring Sonoma County. The Santa Rosa Police Department reported that smoke from the fire was expected to impact eastern parts of Santa Rosa.
Tristan Little was visiting the Indian Springs Hotel in Calistoga from Walnut Creek Tuesday. He said he didn't expect to see helicopters behind his hotel.
"We woke up and we didn't know the fire was happening until we left our room," said Little.
He says when he and his partner walked outside, they saw smoke in the air.
"I checked Cal Fire's website and all of a sudden helicopters started landing right by our room," said Little. "We were sitting in the pool having a couple drinks and the tankers were flying over us and it was pretty crazy to be honest."
The helicopters were near their hotel refilling their tankers before hitting the hill with water again.
Sam Lovold is one of the people who packed up all his most valuable items and is waiting out the fire at the Calistoga Community Center.
"We just checked the app on our phone and waited for instructions from fire command," said Lovold about his decision to evacuate. "We first had a warning and then we had an evacuation order."
He says he's being cautious and he's not overly concerned about his home.
"I think it's going to be fine because it has not been touched before and they've had some serious fires around here," said Lovold.
Public Information Officer with Cal Fire's Napa Unit Eric Hernandez admitted there were some difficult circumstances involved with fighting this fire.
"With low humidity levels, and also with the mild-to-moderate winds, and also adding the topography into this it's obviously made this fire challenging," said Hernandez. "However our firefighters have been able to work expeditiously to contain the fire."
Little said intitially he was shaken up, but as the day has went on, he's less concerned.
"We're not worried anymore. Thankfully it seems like they have it under control, but we're trying to enjoy the rest of our time here," said Little.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation. The fire investigator and police are on scene working to figure out how this all started.
Amanda Hari contributed to this story.
