RUMSEY — Firefighters battled a swiftly growing wildfire in Yolo County and smaller brush fires that popped up around Northern California on Sunday, as the region sweated through hot, dry and windy weather that ramped up the possibility of a destructive blaze.
The Sand Fire near Rumsey in northern Yolo County covered 1,800 acres with zero percent containment as of 8 a.m. Sunday, according to Cal Fire.
The biggest wildfire in Northern California so far this year, it was fanned by strong winds after first being reported at 2:37 p.m. Saturday, leading to the closure of Highway 16 and mandatory evacuations in several communities along the route. Evacuees were sent to a Boy Scouts lodge in Esparto.
Yolo County sheriff’s deputies blocked Hwy. 16 starting at Brooks and prohibited traffic between that area and Hwy. 20, which leads to Lake County.
Several other smaller fires also were reported in the area, including a vegetation fire on County Road 84B. There was also a traffic collision on Sunday afternoon around 12:30 on Hwy. 16 north of Capay, but whether that was related to the Sand Fire is unknown.
Additionally, the second day of the Cache Creek Lavender Festival was canceled in Rumsey, although the Cache Creek Farm itself was untouched by the blaze. Rafters with White Water Adventures were also most likely affected. The rafting company typically has around 700 rafters who put into Cache Creek near Bear Island on the upper creek Saturday, raft that afternoon, spend the night camping out and then start rafting again Sunday morning, pulling out at the old Scout Cabin above Rumsey on Sunday.
Officials with the Cache Creek Casino in Brooks reported they were unaffected by the fire. Hwy. 16 between Interstate 505 and Esparto is under reconstruction with traffic lanes currently narrowed, making driving along that stretch of road difficult.
Meanwhile, some Woodland restaurants responded to help feed evacuees, including The Burger Saloon and Las Brasas.
Fire units from around the region responded to the incident, and firefighters were battling the blaze from the ground and the sky with 38 engines and five helicopters, agency spokesman Will Powers said. Neighboring counties reported smoky conditions because of the fire, and clouds of smoke cloaked the sunset even 80 miles to the south in San Francisco.
The blaze menaced the agricultural Capay Valley, which is tucked into the edge of the Northern Coast Ranges about an hour’s drive northwest of Sacramento. Paul Muller, the owner of Full Belly Farm just inside the evacuation zone, said strong northern winds had threatened to push the fire into the small towns and farms of Ramsey and Guinda earlier Saturday, but the fire had turned west, staying mostly in the steep, brush-covered mountain slopes.
“This was a pretty strong wake-up call,” said Muller, whose family had decided to stay on the farm for now instead of evacuating due to its irrigated fields. “It makes us realize we’re very, very lucky — if this was later in the summer and it was 110 degrees, that would have been a lot more destructive.”
Evacuations were ordered for all residents on County Road 41 with the Evacuation Center at the Esparto Boy Scout Cabin at 16980 Yolo Ave., in Esparto. The Scout Cabin is a designated evacuation site under Yolo County’s new evacuation plan.
High winds and dry grass caused the fire to grow throughout Saturday night with strike teams being called in from Solano County as well as Woodland and elsewhere. Woodland firefighters from Battalion 3 and its grass rig were dispatched. Also sent were those from the city of Davis and the Yocha Dehe Fire Department.
The fire is roughly in the same area as the devastating County Fire, which started in late June 2018, and eventually consumed 90,300 acres before being contained about three weeks later. Around 2,000 firefighters from around the state and Western United States were involved in fighting that blaze, which was one of the first for the 2018 fire season.
No lives were lost in the County Fire but a number of structures were destroyed. Cal Fire is not reporting any structures have been destroyed as of Sunday morning from the Sand Fire, however, some Facebook posts are reporting some outbuildings have been burned.
Several other smaller blazes burned around the region, in an unofficial kick-off for what some experts are predicting could be an especially combustive fire season.
In Fairfield, four firefighters and one police officer were transported to a hospital after fighting a house fire that burned a garage where about 200 pounds of lithium-ion batteries were being stored, the local police department said. Four of the first responders were affected by hazardous fluoride gas released by the batteries, and the fifth suffered a back injury.
In Yuba County, firefighters were battling a roughly 60-acre brush fire off Highway 20 in Marysville, prompting evacuations of some homes, said Ron Karlen, the chief at the local fire department. The fire was about 65 percent contained as of 8 p.m.
And in Napa County, a 50-acre fire northeast of Calistoga was 75 percent contained as of 7:30 p.m.
The danger grew as temperatures climbed and wind gusts reached as high as 71 miles per hour at the summit of Mount Tamalpais, the National Weather Service said — just two weeks after a rain-dampened Memorial Day weekend.
Pacific Gas & Electric Co. shut off power to about 1,600 customers through much of the day Saturday in an effort to reduce wildfire risk in the North Bay, and prepared to do the same in Sierra foothill communities Saturday night.
#PSPS Alert for portions of Napa, Solano & Yolo counties at approx. 6AM today continuing at least thru Sat. afternoon. Click here for more info including a map of approx. area affected: https://t.co/0WQAPDl2yY pic.twitter.com/TyblxLeZCT
— Pacific Gas & Electric (@PGE4Me) June 8, 2019
PG&E said its power shutoff — meant to prevent fires sparked by utility equipment damaged in high winds — began at 6 a.m. Saturday in parts of Napa, Sonoma and Yolo counties. The shutoff ended Saturday afternoon around 4 p.m., the utility said, and power was set to be restored after crews inspected lines for any weather-related damage.
Meanwhile, temperatures across Northern California pushed into the upper 90s. It will be even hotter Monday, when temperatures are expected to soar above 100 degrees.
Relief won’t come until marine air pushes into the area, Tangen said, with warm but not searing weather expected to return by Tuesday.
Saturday’s heat and wind in Napa and Sonoma counties prompted the National Weather Service to issue a Red Flag warning for those areas through Sunday afternoon. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District also issued a Spare the Air warning for Sunday.
While the Weather Service said the North Bay is facing the most critical wildfire risk, the East Bay hills can expect high winds this weekend as well.
The Woodland Daily Democrat contributed to this report.
