Kincade fire crews brace for more high winds, PG&E plans another massive power shutdown

Oct. 29--SANTA ROSA -- After the Kincade Fire swelled to more than 74,000 acres Monday, calmer winds brought some relief -- even if short-lived -- in the fight against the blaze that has seared through Sonoma County.

The same welcome conditions that aided firefighters allowed some of the 185,000 residents who evacuated to return home as power began to be restored in parts of Northern California. By 10 p.m. Monday, PG&E said power was restored to 57 percent, or 556,400 of the 970,000 customers affected by its latest shutdown.

But even as lights began to flicker back on after PG&E's largest power shutdown yet, the California Public Utilities Commission on Monday announced it will open an investigation into the public safety power shutoffs and re-examine the current rules for shutoffs in order to minimize their impact.

PG&E, whose stock sunk again Monday, said it is moving forward Tuesday with another shutoff affecting 596,000 customers across 29 counties, including the Bay Area. That's about 9,000 customers less than an earlier projection.

"The state cannot continue to experience PSPS events on the scope and scale Californians have experienced this month, nor should Californians be subject to the poor execution that PG&E in particular has exhibited," PUC President Marybel Batjer said in a press release.

"Utilities must be held accountable and be aggressively penalized for their overreliance on PSPS and the product of this investigation must be new rules and regulations to do that," said Gov. Gavin Newsom in a press release.

Although some residents returned to their Sonoma County homes Monday, and an evacuation order in Mendocino County was downgraded to a warning, more outages, poor air quality and destructive winds are expected Tuesday in the heart of the fire zone and other parts of the Bay Area.

Winds in the North Bay are forecast to reach up to 50 mph Tuesday morning with gusts as high as 75 mph. Those powerful winds -- expected to last until Wednesday morning -- would pack a second punch to the fire, which nearly doubled in size after unprecedented winds and a peak gust of 93 mph swept through Sonoma County over the weekend.

"The lull we're seeing will greatly help firefighters get aggressive in battling this fire, but with an active fire already on the ground, we're not out of the woods yet," said Steve Anderson, a meteorologist at National Weather Service Bay Area.

Cal Fire Division Chief Jonathan Cox said crews were reinforcing the western side of the fire, against the Lake County line, with bulldozers, engines and hose lines all day in preparation for winds Tuesday. At the same time, crews were fighting the fire on the east.

"It was on everybody's mind today that this was the window to reinforce the western edge," Cox said.

"The best way to put it, we're playing offense and defense, and we'll have to flip flop tomorrow when the winds come through," he continued. "We're on the cusp of optimism. What were contending with is the ping pong of the offshore event, and were seeing that offshore flow test our eastern flank, and with the return of the offshore winds tomorrow, testing our western flank."

The fire perimeter, currently spanning from roughly the Larkfield-Wikiup area north of Santa Rosa up to Glenbrook and Geyserville and east to Kellogg, was mostly maintained throughout the day Monday as more than 4,000 firefighters fought to take advantage of the lull and gain ground on the blaze. By evening, the fire was 15 percent contained, up from just 5 percent.

Despite the brief calm, by Monday evening, the 74,324-acre fire already had taken a toll: 123 structures destroyed, including 57 homes, and 90,000 structures under threat. No deaths have been reported.

Sonoma County Sheriff Mark Essick said there was an incident in the Geyserville area where "a couple people were entering the evacuation zone for no apparent reason."

"We believe they were up to criminal intent, prowling and looking for crimes of opportunity," said Essick, noting that the individuals were arrested. An investigation is underway.

But even as Cal Fire lifted some evacuation orders, it issued new warnings for the eastern flank of the fire. As of Monday evening, parts of Lake County, including Middletown, the Twin Pine Casino, Middletown Rancheria and Dry Creek area all were under evacuation warnings.

Incident commander Mike Blankenheim said Cal Fire is working overnight in the Shiloh Ridge area and has a contingency plan for Calistoga and Middletown in case the fire crosses into Lake County.[

Smoke from the Kincade Fire is likely to continue to be as relentless as the blaze itself Tuesday, leading to unhealthy air quality in the North Bay in particular, authorities said.

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District issued a Spare the Air Alert for the second straight day, citing smoke from the blaze in Sonoma County and the leftover effect of several other local fires that broke out Sunday during windy, dry conditions.

"Unfortunately, we're expecting another day of hazy skies and unhealthy air quality," said Jack Broadbent, an executive officer for the air district. "With strong winds in the forecast and the potential for more local fires, it is important that residents protect their health by staying indoors with windows closed to avoid exposure to the smoke."

Map: For the latest fire and evacuation zone information in Sonoma County click here.

Cal Fire and local authorities said the fire made an aggressive drive Sunday night toward the Larkfield-Wikiup area, where damage from the Tubbs Fire two years ago is still visible. PG&E on Monday reported that its equipment in more than 20 locations was damaged due to the extreme winds during the shutdown.

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Richard and Laurie Miller, who just moved into their newly rebuilt Larkfield home about five months ago, were told Saturday that for the second time in two years they had to evacuate. Their last home was leveled by the Tubbs Fire that tore through Sonoma County in 2017.

"The first thing I said was, 'You gotta be (expletive) kidding me,' " Laurie recalled Monday afternoon. "We're feeling like we can't catch a break."

The couple already was staying with friends in Santa Rosa on Sunday night when an urgent fire warning for the Larkfield-Wikiup area went out, telling any residents who had lingered behind to get out immediately.

After hearing that the flames had slowed by Monday morning in lighter winds, they came back to check on their home. Their home, along with many other brand-new homes and those still under construction, all were untouched, but a vast lid of thick smoke choked the region, obscuring the hills to the east and north.

"I feel a lot better than I did last night," Richard said, sitting on a patio chair in his side yard behind a brand new wooden fence just completed last week. "The last time this kind of thing happened and we turned the corner ... there was no house. There was no neighborhood, everything was flat."

Amid thick, low-hanging smoke, a firefighting strike team from Alameda County was working Monday to mop up hillside properties along Faught Road on the outskirts of the neighborhood as a helicopter nearby circled, dropping loads of water onto the ridges farther northeast.

Mario Gonzalez, who also lives in Larkfield-Wikiup, stayed in his house during the Tubbs Fire and now during the Kincade Fire. He said he didn't want to abandon his home -- or the three vintage Geo Storm sports cars he had collected.

"If you own property, you have a right to protect it -- to die for it," said Gonzalez, standing outside his house with his dog Dallas.

The former president of his homeowners association, Gonzalez has been fielding a barrage of texts and Facebook messages from neighbors checking to make sure their houses are still standing.

As he spoke with a reporter Monday, Gonzalez got a call from his mom and told her he hadn't left the evacuation zone. "I thought you were supposed be out of there," she shouted into the phone. "Get out!"

But Gonzalez insisted he would stay as long as possible: "I can leave in a heartbeat if I need to," he said. "I'm not going to get cooked."

In addition to the Kincade Fire, hundreds of smaller fires have sprung up in recent days across California. In Los Angeles, a brush fire that broke out early Monday along the 405 freeway near the Getty Center quickly grew to more than 600 acres.

The Getty Fire prompted the evacuation of thousands of residents and threatened more than 10,000 homes and businesses.

Firefighters have put out 330 fires across the state in the past 24 hours, according to Gov. Gavin Newsom.

"That's just testament to the talent, a testament to the spirit of those that are out there on the lines 24/7 keeping the people of this state safe," Newsom said at a news conference Monday.

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