Moisture a good sign for firefighters battling blaze in Yolo County, County Fire grows to 72K acres
NAPA COUNTY, Calif. (AP) - Moist air heading to Northern California should be a good omen for firefighters battling the County Fire, which is threatening 1,000 homes and buildings as of Tuesday night.
The temperature was around 90 in the area on Tuesday and the high is expected to drop by about 5 degrees Wednesday.
"The firefighters out on the line know, that we have this very short window of opportunity to get ahead of this fire. So. we're gonna take advantage of the lower temperatures and the higher humidity in order to get more line established around this fire and go into places we previously couldn't because the fire behavior was so intense," said Cal Fire Division Chief Chris Anthony.
Water bearing helicopters or retardant bearing tankers will come in if the stubborn fires persist. State fire officials say the erratic winds and tinder-dry brush and grass fueling the explosive spread of flames can still hamper containment.
As of Tuesday, air assets were hitting the most active and threatening parts of the still growing fire, especially in the mountains just above the towns of Guinda, Brooks and Esparto.
No homes have burned but the blaze is surging through sparsely populated areas of Yolo and Napa counties about 50 miles from the state capitol of Sacramento.
Cal-Fire said the fire spread to 72,500 acres Tuesday night; nearly the size of Sacramento. The wildfire remains at 15 percent contained.
The County Fire erupted Sunday and at times has grown by 1,000 acres an hour and smoke and ash from miles away are raining down on the San Francisco Bay Area and California wine country. Some areas have been under evacuation orders for days.
Mandatory evacuations are as follows:
North of Highway 128 in Yolo County, not including the City of Winters.
South of County Road 23.
East of Berryessa Knoxville Road.
West of County Road 89, South of the community of Esparto, however agricultural equipment will be permitted.
Residences served by Highway 128, between Monticello Dam and Pleasant Valley Road.
West of State Highway 16 to Berryessa Knoxville Road.
South of Old County Road 40.
North of County Road 53.
Evacuation Advisory:
North of Quail Canyon Road.
South of Highway 128.
East of the Blue Ridge mountains.
West of Pleasant Valley Road.
East of Capell Valley Road.
North of State Highway 128 from Capell Valley Road, East to the Napa County line.
For questions regarding Yolo County evacuations or advisories, please dial 2-1-1
Napa County residents can text their zip code to 888777 for updates.