Wildfires rage in Northern California

Evacuation orders were issued in Northern California where the LNU Lightning Complex Fire burned 46,225 acres, destroyed 50 structures and damaged another 50 structures across Sonoma, Lake and Napa counties.

Residents in portions of Lake and Napa counties were advised that there was an “immediate threat to life and property” due to the fire. They were urged to evacuate as soon as possible, according to Cal Fire. Some Sonoma County residents were also asked to evacuate.

The Lake County Sheriff’s Office issued an evacuation order for residents living near Hidden Valley Lake and in the Jerusalem Valley area.

While some evacuations in Napa County have been lifted, residents who live near Highway 121 are still under a mandatory evacuation order. 

“This is a lawful order to leave now,” Cal Fire said in a release on Wednesday. “The area is lawfully closed to public access.”

More details: The LNU Lightning Complex Fire consists of at least eight separate fires that are impacting the areas of Solano, Sonoma, and Napa counties, according to Cal Fire. The fire was threatening at least 1,900 structures.

The pilot of a firefighting helicopter that was on a water mission on the Hills Fire in Central California this morning has died, Cal Fire said in a news release.

The pilot was the only person on board the helicopter, according to Cal Fire.

The helicopter was battling the Hills Fire in Fresno County and making water drops before it went down this morning, said Cal Fire spokesperson Seth Brown.

A firefighting helicopter crashed in the remote area of Coalinga, California, on Wednesday morning, sparking a new wildfire, authorities confirmed to CNN.

“A Bell UH-1 helicopter that was involved in firefighting operations crashed under unknown circumstances 11 miles south of New Coalinga Municipal Airport in Coalinga, Calif., around 10 a.m. PDT. The crash caused a new brush fire,” a Federal Aviation Administration spokesperson said in a statement.

The helicopter was battling the Hills Fire in Central California and making water drops before it went down this morning, said Cal Fire spokesperson Seth Brown.

Additional air and ground resources responded immediately, Brown said.

Brown said while the crash started a new fire, it is now burning into the main fire so it is not a major concern. The Hills Fire is currently 1,500 acres and 35% contained.

The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash.

A man has been detained on arson charges in connection with a wildfire burning thousands of acres in Northern California.

California State Parks officials detained Ivan Geronimo Gomez, 30, near the origin of the Dolan Fire in Big Sur and he was booked into Monterey County Jail on charges of arson of forest lands, the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. Gomez is being held on $2 million bail.

As of Wednesday, 50 firefighters were battling the Dolan Fire, which has burned 2,500 acres and prompted evacuations in the Big Sur area along the Northern California coast. It was one of hundreds of wildfires actively burning across the state as a record-setting heat wave brought sweltering conditions to California.

An investigation into the origin of the fire is ongoing, the sheriff’s office said. Those with information about the fire are asked to contact the Monterey County Sheriff’s Investigations Division.

Today will be “another challenging day” as California continues to battle the heat wave and wildfires, Gov. Gavin Newsom said during a press briefing on Wednesday.

“This fire season has been very active,” Newsom said, as he compared the “substantially lower” number of fires last year.

Of the 367 total fires burning statewide, 23 are considered major wildfires.

While California is challenged by the number of active fires burning, Newsom said the state is in a better state of preparedness with a world-class firefighting force and equipment. 

Newsom said every firefighting resource is being utilized and the resources are “stretched” throughout the state. The state is also receiving firefighting support from other states like Arizona, Nevada and Texas. 

Newsom added that these extraordinary weather events continue to put pressure on the energy supply. 

Another “Flex Alert” was issued on Wednesday urging residents to conserve energy from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. PT to avoid potential rotating power outages. 

Over 47,000 megawatts of electricity are expected to be utilized on Wednesday due to the high temperatures. About 38,000 megawatts are used on a typical summer day, according to Newsom.  

“We really need everybody to do everything in their power to reduce consumption,” said Newsom.

The Vacaville Senior Center in Northern California has opened as an evacuation center for residents affected by the wildfire. So far, about 20 people are there.

Marci and Ken Albers, who lost their Vacaville home, are at the center now. The Albers evacuated around 2 a.m. local time with only the clothes on their back.  

They said the fire chief told them that there were no fire trucks to battle the blaze because they were all being used to fight another fire in Lake Berryessa.   

Marci Albers continued: “I was just thinking that after we left — the house will be there and we’ll be fine. I’m in shock. I can’t even think straight. We had 30 years of stuff in that house.”

Approximately 10,849 lightning strikes have sparked 367 new fires in California over the past 72 hours, Cal Fire spokesperson Jeremy Rahn said in a news conference. In all, Cal Fire estimates that over 300,000 acres have burned.

The LNU Lightning Complex is a group of many separate fires in Northern California, stretching over five counties. Some of those fires are believed to have merged for an estimated 42,000 burned acres.

Evacuations are ongoing throughout the region, yet officials do not have a clear number on exactly how many people have been told to leave their homes. The day’s priorities are firefighter and public safety, evacuation planning, and structure and infrastructure protection, Chief Chris Waters outlined.

“This is an incredibly emotional and stressful time for many of us who have endured many fires and natural disasters over the last couple of years,” Sonoma County Sheriff Mark Essick said. “We realize that this is a trigger point for many of you.”

Hot, dry winds and resources that have been stretched thin will hamper today’s efforts, an incident commander said. Cal Fire has requested 375 fire engines from out of state to assist in the battle.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article incorrectly reported that the lightning strikes sparked 367 new fires in California overnight. It happened over the past 72 hours.

The LNU Lightning Complex is a series of eight large fires burning across Napa, Sonoma and Solano Counties in Northern California. In total, more the complex includes 46,000 acres of wildfires.

Aerial images from KPIX showed the LNU Lightning Complex fire near Lake Berryessa.

Here’s what it looks like:

The National Weather Service in Lubbock, Texas, said recent colorful sunsets in the area are due to the wildfires raging in both California and Colorado.

“Have you noticed the colorful sunsets lately? Unfortunately, the reason is smoke from wildfires across CO and CA,” the service tweeted.

The service also tweeted a model of where smoke will travel over the next day. It covers much of the western half of the country:

California is not the only state facing spreading wildfires. There are at least four raging in Colorado — and the state’s Pine Gulch Fire grew to 125,100 acres overnight, according to the latest operations update posted on InciWeb. 

The fire grew over 30,000 acres in the southern and western side of the fire due to 30 to 40 mph sustained winds, Pat Seekins of the operations section of the Pine Gulch team said in this morning’s update posted to the fire’s Facebook page. 

The Pine Gulch Fire is the second largest fire in Colorado history, according to the Rocky Mountain Area Coordinating Center.  

Seekins said today that firefighters had some success containing the fire on the northern side but the primary concern is the northwest and western side of the fire. The latest update shows that the temperatures in the area are the highest they’ve been since early August and that there are thunderstorms and wind gusts of 20 to 30 mph forecast for this afternoon.

The fire remains at 7% contained due to the continued growth of the fire, according to the latest update. 

Vacaville Police are going door-to-door to get residents out of harm’s way as more areas are added to the potential path of wildfires. Dispatchers are using the reverse 911 system to notify those in danger.

The Hennessey Fire is the key component of the LNU Lightning Complex, a group of wildfires in Napa, Sonoma, and Solano Counties that is now estimated at 46,225 acres, according Cal Fire.

Nearly 600 firefighters are assigned to fighting the fire. At least 50 homes have been destroyed and another 50 damaged. Close to 2,000 structures are threatened.

At least 33 wildfires are currently burning more than 141,000 acres in Northern California.

The major fires are broken up into three zones: 

A red flag warning is in place in parts of Northern California, including the areas around Vacaville, which has issued some evacuations because of a nearby wildfire.

About red flag warnings: This is a warning the National Weather Service issues when conditions are perfect for wildfires to start and to spread, for example, during hot, dry, windy weather.

“Red flag warning for very low humidity and gusty wind today into Thursday morning….very low humidity combined with gusty northwest to west wind will continue critical fire weather conditions today into Thursday morning,” the service said today.

The wildfires come as California battles what some experts are calling historic weather conditions.

Nearly 45 million people across the West are under an excessive heat warning or heat advisory Wednesday. High temperatures, gusty winds and low humidity are forecast, conditions that will likely contribute to a significant spread of both new and existing wildfires.

California weather officials said at least seven temperature records were broken. Here’s a look at some of the records:

In a Twitter warning, the National Weather Service said that “summer is hot, but this is different.”

The fire that prompted some residents in Vacaville to evacuate is among dozens of blazes burning in parts of the state. They come during a brutal heat wave and power outages — both intentional and unintentional — as the power grid struggles to keep up with demand.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a statewide emergency Tuesday to deploy resources to “combat fires burning across the state which have been exacerbated by the effects of the historic West Coast heat wave and sustained high winds.”

The Vacaville-area fire is part of the LNU Lightning Complex fires — a series of wildfires that started Monday and Tuesday and have burned more than 32,000 acres in the northern Bay Area counties of Napa, Sonoma and Solano, state and county officials said.

Here’s what we know about some of the other fires in California:

Flames from the LNU Lightning Complex Fire are forced some Vacaville, California, residents to flee from their homes in the wee early of the morning.

An exact number of evacuees could not be provided at this time as the emergency process is ongoing, Solano Sheriff spokesperson Le’Ron Cummings told CNN.

Homes have burned in the fire, Cummings said, but it is unclear how many. 

About the fire: The LNU Lightning Complex is a force of at least seven separate fires affecting areas of Solano, Sonoma and Napa Counties. More than 32,000 acres have burned, according to Cal Fire.

Caroline Newell left her home in Winters, California, around midnight and drove to her parents’ home 20 minutes away in Fairfield. She said she started packing her things when thick smoke started inching closer to her home and at that time, evacuation orders or warnings hadn’t even been put out in her area.

Newell said she “got caught off guard by how fast it got close” to her. She was able to grab her cat but had to leave some of her chickens behind. Newell said she left the coop open hoping they’d run out on their own.

“This is the third time I’ve evacuated this summer,” Newell said. “Both previous times firecrews were out in force and got the flames under control quickly. This time around there seemed to be less resources available just due to how many fires are burning right now. This fire seems to be really fast and really intense with not enough resources to fight back.”

She took photos as she fled her home. Here’s a look at the scene:

Some residents in the city of Vacaville, California, were asked to evacuate their homes this morning as a wildfire is raging in the area.

The Vacaville Fire Protection District tweeted that evacuations are in effect for “all of Pleasants Valley Rd and connecting streets/roads.”

Here’s the latest from the Solano County Office of Emergency Services:

“An EVACUATION ORDER has been issued for all residents south of Gates Canyon Road to Hwy 80 and Pleasants Valley Road west to Blue Ridge Road. An evacuation order means there is immediate threat to life. This is a lawful order to leave now. The area is lawfully closed to public access. An EVACUATION ORDER has been issued for all residents north of Gates Canyon Road to Quail Canyon Road and Pleasants Valley Road to Blue Ridge Road due to wildfire. An evacuation order means there is immediate threat to life…”

The wildfire impacting the county is called the LNU Lightning Complex Fire, the Solano County Office of Emergency Services said in a post on Facebook. It’s one of dozens of fires burning across California.

Vacaville is located in Solano County in Northern California. The city has a population of approximately 100,000 people and is located between San Francisco and Sacramento. 

CNN is on the ground in Vacaville: