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Tubbs Fire

Coordinates: 38°36′32″N 122°37′44″W / 38.60895°N 122.62879°W / 38.60895; -122.62879
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Tubbs Fire
Date(s)October 8, 2017 (2017-10-08) -
LocationSonoma County, California, Napa County, California, U.S.
Coordinates38°36′32″N 122°37′44″W / 38.60895°N 122.62879°W / 38.60895; -122.62879
Statistics[1]
Burned area35,270 acres (143 km2)
Impacts
Deaths19[2]
Structures destroyed2,834 homes[3]
Ignition
CauseUnknown
Map
Tubbs Fire is located in Northern California
Tubbs Fire
Location of fire in California
Map of Tubbs fire

The Tubbs Fire is a wildfire burning in Napa and Sonoma counties in Northern California, including parts of the cities of Santa Rosa and Calistoga. It is one of fourteen large fires simultaneously burning in eight Northern California counties in what has been called the "Northern California firestorm".[4] As of October 13, the fire was estimated to have burned 34,770 acres (141 km2),[5] [6] and the count of deaths in Sonoma County due to the fire had risen to 19 people.[2] In the city of Santa Rosa, the damage was estimated at $1.2 billion, with five percent of the city's housing stock destroyed.[6]

Timeline

October 8 to 9

The Tubbs Fire started near Tubbs Lane in Calistoga[7] around 9:43 p.m. on Sunday, October 8.[8] Although the cause of the fire is not known, Sonoma County emergency dispatchers sent fire crews to at least 10 reports of downed power lines and exploding transformers as the North Bay fires, including the Tubbs fire, began. At a weather station in north Santa Rosa, the peak wind gusts at 9:29 p.m. hit 30 mph; an hour later, they were 41 mph.[9]

Pushed by strong winds from the northeast, the front of the fire moved more than twelve miles in its first three hours.[8] The Mark West Springs area, north of Santa Rosa in unincorporated Sonoma County, was directly in the path of the fire. One exception to the destruction in that area was that all of the more than 1,000 animals at Safari West were unharmed by the fire.[10][11]

Sonoma County officials could have sent out an emergency alert to every cellphone in the region on Sunday night as the fire grew, but chose not to, saying such a widespread alarm would have hampered emergency efforts. Instead, Nixle SMS and email alerts were broadcast — the first of these text messages going out at 10:51 p.m., and used a system called SoCo Alerts to notify people via cellphone; both are limited to those who sign up for these services. Officials also used a reverse 911 system that called landlines in certain areas.[12]

By 1 a.m. on Monday, the fire, spreading quickly to the south and west, had reached Santa Rosa city limits.[13] The front entered the city from the north,[14] moving into the Fountain Grove area, then moving down ravines between Mark West Springs Road and Fountaingrove Parkway.[15] Hundreds of homes and many other structures were destroyed, with tens of thousands of people evacuating with very little notice.[16] The historic Fountaingrove Inn, the Fountaingrove Round Barn nearby, and a large Hilton hotel were destroyed.[17][18] Nearly all of the 160 units at the Journey's End mobile home park were turned to rubble.[19] Analysis of satellite images, published on Thursday, showed more than 500 structures appeared to be destroyed.[20]

At about 1:30 a.m., Sonoma County officials began to evacuate neighborhoods in and around Santa Rosa.[15]

By about 2 a.m., the fire, carried by near hurricane-level winds,[15] had spread further to the west, crossing Highway 101.[21] By 4:30 a.m., the winds had reached their peak speed of more than 60 miles per hour.[13]

Early Monday morning, the fire reached the Coffey Park neighborhood, where it leveled much of the area.[22][23] An estimated 1,300 structures, mostly detached homes, were destroyed.[20] Other damage on the west side of Highway 101 included a Kmart store, razed to the ground,[19] and several restaurants close to the highway which burned to the ground.[24] Many of the homes in the Coddingtown Mobile Estates neighborhood were damaged or destroyed.[25]

Other notable damage on Monday morning included the complete loss of a senior living complex, Oakmont of Villa Capri; several restaurants on the east side of Highway 101; Hidden Valley Satellite, a primary school; and the Santa Rosa portion of Paradise Ridge Winery.[24] The Cardinal Newman High School campus was badly damaged, as was one end of the Luther Burbank Center for the Performing Arts.[24]

At 10 a.m., Santa Rosa issued a mandatory evacuation notice for residents in affected areas.[26]

By noon on Monday, two medical centers in Santa Rosa, Kaiser Permanente and Sutter Health, had been evacuated.[27] Some Kaiser employees reportedly used their personal vehicles to evacuate some of the 130 patients at that hospital.[28]

Pacific Gas and Electric Company cut off natural gas to 31,000 customers in the Santa Rosa and Windsor areas as a precaution.[29]

October 10

At a town hall meeting on the evening of October 10 in Santa Rosa, Cal Fire representatives reported that there could be as many as 3,000 structures lost to the Tubbs and Atlas fires.[citation needed]

October 11

On Wednesday, October 11, the entire town of Calistoga was evacuated[5]; about 2,000 people were asked to leave.[30] The escape for some was along roads walled by flames.[31] The Lake County Sheriff’s Office issued an advisory evacuation notice for residents in the Middletown area, to the north of Calistoga.[32]

One active part of the fire was east of the town of Windsor, with the fire burning from Shiloh ridge to Chalk Hill Road and Knights Valley.[31]

October 12

As of 7 a.m. on Thursday, the Tubbs Fire had burned 34,270 acres, and was 10 percent contained.[33] In the city of Santa Rosa, officials said that the fire had destroyed an estimated 2,834 homes, along with about 400,000 square feet of commercial space.[3]

As of Thursday morning, efforts continued to be focused on two areas:

  • Near the northwest corner of Napa County, firefighters were battling the fire around Mount St. Helena, but they started pulling back before noon; the fire had hopped Highway 29, which runs adjacent to the mountain north of the evacuated town of Calistoga.[33] There was no fire activity in the town itself,[3] with the blaze spreading north and east of Calistoga through rugged terrain into Lake County, south of Middletown.[34] By Thursday afternoon, only a few dozen people had refused to evacuate from Calistoga.[35]
  • In northern Sonoma County, the fire was being monitored in the area to the west of Healdsburg and Windsor. Sonoma County ordered Rio Lindo Adventist Academy, a boarding school on the outskirts of Healdsburg near the edge of the Tubbs fire, to prepare to evacuate if necessary. 

Among the losses reported on Thursday was the destruction of the Santa Rosa hillside home of late Peanuts creator Charles Schulz; his widow, Jean Schulz, escaped unhurt.[33][36] By Thursday evening, 28,000 customers in the Santa Rosa and Windsor areas still had not had their gas service restored.[29]

October 13

As of Friday morning, the fire was 25 percent contained.[37] It remained about two miles outside of Calistoga city limits.[38]

The New York Time reports "Northern California Fires Have Destroyed at Least 5,700 Buildings"[39]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Tubbs Fire". Cal Fire. Retrieved October 9, 2017.
  2. ^ a b Lyons, Jenna (October 13, 2017). "Live updates: 36 dead in NorCal fires, 5,700 structures destroyed". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved October 13, 2017.
  3. ^ a b c KCRA staff (October 12, 2017). "Santa Rosa mayor: 2,834 homes destroyed in Tubbs Fire". KCRA. Retrieved October 12, 2017. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  4. ^ "One death and 1,500 structures lost in Northern California firestorm, among worst in state's history". Los Angeles Times. October 9, 2017. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
  5. ^ a b Lyons, Jenna; Rubenstein, Steve; Aleaziz, Hamed; Fimrite, Peter; Tucker, Jill (October 11, 2017). "Live updates: 23 dead in Wine Country fires; parts of city of Napa warned". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved October 11, 2017.
  6. ^ a b Nelson, Laura (October 13, 2017). "Death toll from Northern California fires jumps to at least 34; 5,700 structures destroyed". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved October 14, 2017. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  7. ^ Fimrite, Peter; Tucker, Jill; Said, Carolyn; Cabanatuan, Michael (October 10, 2017). "Live updates: 150 people missing as death toll rises to 11 in Wine Country fires". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved October 10, 2017.
  8. ^ a b Griggs, Troy; Lai, K. K. Rebecca; Park, Haeyoun; Patel, Jugal K.; White, Jeremy (October 12, 2017). "Minutes to Escape: How One California Wildfire Damaged So Much So Quickly". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 12, 2017. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  9. ^ Rogers, Paul (October 13, 2017). "California fire mystery: PG&E lines fell in winds that weren't 'hurricane strength'". The Mercury News. Retrieved October 14, 2017. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  10. ^ Payne, Paul (October 10, 2017). "Safari West owner had 'a thousand souls' to save from Tubbs fire". Santa Rosa Press Democrat. Retrieved October 13, 2017. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  11. ^ Aleaziz, Hamed (October 13, 2017). "How Safari West's giraffes, cheetahs and rhinos survived the Tubbs Fire". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved October 14, 2017. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  12. ^ Kurhi, Eric (October 12, 2017). "Wine Country fires: Why didn't Sonoma County send a cellphone alert?". The Mercury News. Retrieved October 14, 2017. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  13. ^ a b Griggs, Troy; Lai, K. K. Rebecca; Park, Haeyoun; Patel, Jugal K.; White, Jeremy (October 12, 2017). "Minutes to Escape: How One California Wildfire Damaged So Much So Quickly". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 12, 2017. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  14. ^ "Santa Rosa under siege as huge fire carves path of destruction". Los Angeles Times. October 9, 2017. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
  15. ^ a b c Tucker, Jill (October 11, 2017). "How the deadly Tubbs Fire blitzed Santa Rosa, overwhelming residents and firefighters". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved October 14, 2017. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  16. ^ Fires burn across Sonoma and Napa counties as thousands flee devastating flames. Santa Rosa Press-Democrat, 9 October 2017
  17. ^ "Fire destroys Paradise Ridge Winery, Fountaingrove Inn, Willi's Wine Bar, other local landmarks". Santa Rosa Press Democrat. October 9, 2017. Retrieved October 9, 2017.
  18. ^ Almukhtar, Sarah; Carlsen, Audrey; Huang, Jon; Lai, K. K. Rebecca; Lee, Jasmine C.; Patel, Jugal K.; Singhvi, Anjali; Watkins, Derek (October 10, 2017). "Before and After Photos: Fires Tear Through California's Wine Country". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 13, 2017. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  19. ^ a b Robinson, Melia (October 12, 2017). "Aerial photos reveal the shocking damage of California's deadliest wildfire on record". Business Insider. Retrieved October 13, 2017. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  20. ^ a b Singhvi, Anjali; Watkins, Derek (October 12, 2017). "Satellite Images Show 1,800 Buildings Destroyed by Fire in Santa Rosa". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 13, 2017. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  21. ^ Fimrite, Peter; Tucker, Jill; Said, Carolyn; Cabanatuan, Michael (October 10, 2017). "Live updates: 150 people missing as death toll rises to 11 in Wine Country fires". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved October 10, 2017.
  22. ^ Miller, Andrea (October 12, 2017). "Before and after photos of California neighborhood destroyed by wildfire". ABC News. Retrieved October 13, 2017. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  23. ^ "Before & After: Subdivision in Santa Rosa destroyed by fire". Los Angeles Times. October 9, 2017. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved October 13, 2017. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  24. ^ a b c "Fire destroys Paradise Ridge Winery, Fountaingrove Inn, Willi's Wine Bar, other local landmarks". Santa Rosa Press Democrat. October 9, 2017. Retrieved October 13, 2017. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  25. ^ "VIDEO: Santa Rosa trailer parks suffer in firestorm". KRON4.com. October 10, 2017. Retrieved October 13, 2017. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  26. ^ "Analysis | Mapping the wildfires in Northern California's wine country". Washington Post. October 12, 2017. Retrieved October 14, 2017. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  27. ^ Ho, Vivian (October 9, 2017). "More than 100 injured in Wine Country fires treated at hospitals". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved October 9, 2017.
  28. ^ Graff, Amy (October 9, 2017). "130 patients evacuated from Kaiser hospital in Santa Rosa". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved October 9, 2017.
  29. ^ a b Kovner, Guy (October 12, 2017). "Utilities crews in Sonoma County scramble to restore gas, cellphone service". Santa Rosa Press Democrat. Retrieved October 13, 2017. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  30. ^ KCRA staff (October 12, 2017). "New evacuations ordered as Napa County wildfires grow". KCRA. Retrieved October 12, 2017. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  31. ^ a b Payne, Paul (October 12, 2017). "Fires in fourth day threaten thousands of homes in Sonoma, Napa counties". Santa Rosa Press Democrat. Retrieved October 13, 2017. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  32. ^ Kirschenheuter, Emily (October 11, 2017). "Lake County's Middletown under advisory evacuation". KRON4.com. Retrieved October 14, 2017. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  33. ^ a b c Kohli, Sonali; Sahagun, Louis; John, Paige St; Agrawal, Nina; Megerian, Chris (October 12, 2017). "Death toll climbs to 29 as crews begin grim search among ashes of wine country fires". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved October 12, 2017. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  34. ^ Payne, Paul; Rossman, Randi (October 12, 2017). "Fires grow in Sonoma, Napa and Mendocino counties as death toll rises". Santa Rosa Press Democrat. Retrieved October 13, 2017. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  35. ^ Barber, Phil (October 12, 2017). "Empty Calistoga braces as Tubbs fire expands in Napa County". Santa Rosa Press Democrat. Retrieved October 13, 2017. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  36. ^ Payne, Paul; Rossman, Randi (October 12, 2017). "Fires grow in Sonoma, Napa and Mendocino counties as death toll rises". Santa Rosa Press Democrat. Retrieved October 13, 2017. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  37. ^ Kirschenheuter, Emily (October 13, 2017). "Firefighters make progress on Tubbs Fire, Atlas Fire containment". KRON4.com. Retrieved October 14, 2017. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  38. ^ Thadani, Trisha (October 13, 2017). "Calistoga eerily quiet as Tubbs Fire looms on outskirts of town". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved October 14, 2017. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  39. ^ {{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/10/14/us/california-fire-building-damage.html |title=Northern California Fires Have Destroyed at Least 5,700 Buildings |date=2017-10-14 |work=New York Times
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