Day 4. Fire and Ash, Bits of Progress and More Destruction From the Northern California Fires.
After nearly four days of battling 22 wildfires raging across California, a Cal Fire deputy chief gave the first glimmer of positive news to those living in wine country on Thursday morning…
“The fires grew a little last night, but nothing as dramatic as the last couple days,” Deputy Chief Scott McLean told KTVU.
one of the largest fires, the Tubbs Fire… was 10 percent contained. By Thursday morning, it had burned nearly 28,000 acres. It started in Napa County near Calistoga, but is the fire that is responsible for ravaging the city of Santa Rosa, the county seat of Sonoma County.
From the San Francisco Chronicle:
All schools in the Vallejo City Unified School District, Benicia Unified School District, John Swett Unified School District, Pittsburg Unified School District, West Contra Costa Unified School District, Martinez Unified School District, Mount Diablo Unified School District and Antioch Unified School District will be closed Thursday due to poor air quality caused by the Wine Country wildfires.
A helo rises over the smoke…
Meanwhile the air in the Bay Area shows no signs of getting better.
Oakland’s air quality, because of thick smoke from the North Bay fires, is the second worst in the nation, behind only Napa, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, Oakland’s air is “unhealthy” to breathe, registering a 161 on the index gauge, behind Napa’s 167. San Francisco and San Rafael registered at 155 and Livermore at 145. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District predicted that air pollution will worsen in the region on Friday and Saturday.
