Sonoma Co. Supe: Effort To Control Kincade Fire Like Being In Eye Of Hurricane
SONOMA COUNTY (KPIX 5) -- The effort to control the remnants of the Kincade Fire, just ahead of the next wind event Saturday, is a situation one Sonoma County supervisor described as similar to being in the eye of a hurricane.
"We have a fleet out there right now, going after the fire, the Kincade fire, in a way that it needs to be done, in the next 2 to 3 days, to prepare for another wind event which is really making us bristle little bit," explained Sonoma District 4 Supervisor James Gore.
The fire, which exploded so quickly Wednesday night, spent Friday simmering in the Sonoma County hills.
"This road goes up another 12 miles, and I guess the fire burned pretty much all the way up there," said resident Tom Cardoza, who snuck back in this area to keep an eye on his home. Crews were up and down his road patrolling a fire that is still large, but for now, stationary.
"I'm really really worried, and so are the neighbors," says Cardoza. "If it jumps this road and goes over to the east side, there's no stopping it for a while."
The effort to contain the fire would be a massive undertaking on any day, but came with the added pressure of a ticking clock.
Friday in Healdsburg, Governor Newsom and a host of emergency officials gave a briefing that covered the state, multiple fires, and the impending power outage.
"They are preparing Saturday night for Saturday night, preparing for Sunday, and they are working with meteorologists," the Governor said of the state's emergency response team. "They are working with data that's state of the art."
But they also conceded that all of this together, presents new challenges, on a grand scale. And they were quite frank that anyone near the fires, or the power shutdowns, should be making every possible preparation.
"This is really sort of an unprecedented place that we are in," said Office of Emergence Services Director Mark S Ghilarducci. "As a state will get past it, and we will get through it together."
