Santa Rosa, California - Firefighters battled
15 wildfires on Tuesday that have killed at least 11 people and
destroyed hundreds of homes and businesses in Northern
California while raging through the state's world-famous wine
country.
Efforts to control the fires were helped by the wind dying
down on Monday, Brad Alexander, a spokesman for the governor's
Office of Emergency Services, said.
However, the death toll could still rise, he said.
Schools and colleges near the wildfires cancelled Tuesday's
classes and two hospitals in Sonoma County were forced to
evacuate, state officials said.
About 1,500 homes and commercial buildings had been
destroyed, Ken Pimlott, director of the California Department of
Forestry and Fire Protection, said on Monday.
Much of the damage was in California's wine country north of
San Francisco. Sonoma County bore the brunt of the fatalities,
with seven fire-related deaths confirmed there, according to the
sheriff's department. Two people died in Napa County and one in
Mendocino County, officials said. An 11th death was reported in
Yuba County, NBC News reported.
Some 20,000 people had been evacuated from their homes since
Sunday, officials said, while CNN said more than 100 had been
treated for fire-related injuries, including burns and smoke
inhalation.
The 15 fires broke out during the weekend and were fanned by
high temperatures and dry conditions. They spread across some
73,000 acres (29,542 hectares), fire officials said.
The largest fire, covering 42 square miles (109 square km)
and 39 square miles (101 square km) respectively, struck in Napa
and Sonoma counties. The status of the grape crop currently
being harvested there was unclear.
In addition to potential damage to vineyards from fire
itself, experts say sustained exposure to heavy smoke can taint
unpicked grapes.
Fred Oliai, 47, owner of the Alta Napa Valley Winery, said
winemakers were nervous.
"You can't see anything," he said in a telephone interview.
"The smoke is very dense." Oliai had not been able to get close
enough to his vineyards to see if flames reached his 90-acre
property. "We got our grapes in last week but others still have
grapes hanging," he said.
California Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of
emergency Napa, Sonoma and five other counties.
That included Orange County in Southern California, where a
wildfire on Monday destroyed at least a half dozen homes in the
affluent Anaheim Hills neighbourhood, forcing the evacuation of
hundreds of residents, authorities said.