Wine Country fires ‘burning faster than firefighters can run’

A firefighter works to control a fire near a bulldozer line created behind homes along Bennett Valley Road as he and other firefighters monitor it 's progress on Wednesday, October 11, 2017 in Santa Rosa, Calif. less A firefighter works to control a fire near a bulldozer line created behind homes along Bennett Valley Road as he and other firefighters monitor it 's progress on Wednesday, October 11, 2017 in Santa Rosa, ... more Photo: Lea Suzuki, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Lea Suzuki, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 164 Caption Close Wine Country fires ‘burning faster than firefighters can run’ 1 / 164 Back to Gallery

The fight to save the North Bay from further devastation as the flames from three major fires continue to bear down on communities there is both harrowing and difficult, as firefighters attempt to outflank fast-moving, wind-whipped blazes.

“We are at very low containment on most of these,” said Mark Ghilarducci, director of the state Office of Emergency Services. “These fires are literally burning faster than firefighters can run.”

As the flames threatened neighborhoods, Cal Fire requested 60 additional hand crews, planes and other firefighting equipment from any state in the country that can lend a hand to exhausted firefighters, who have stretched the available resources to the maximum. Some 8,000 firefighters are battling two dozen fires around the state.

Dave Baldwin, of the California National Guard, said 1,800 soldiers and airmen joined the 330 law enforcement personnel working the fire.

The work is expected to be even harder as 30 mph winds and a dry 8 percent humidity were forecast in the area.

“Make no mistake, this is a serious, critical, catastrophic event,” Ken Pimlott, the chief of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, known as Cal Fire, said of the Wine Country blazes. “These fires aren't just in the backwoods. These fires are burning in and around and through developed communities.”

The biggest conflagrations are the Atlas Fire, which spread overnight and has now burned 42,000 acres in Napa County and the Tubbs Fire, which has blackened 25,000 acres near Santa Rosa.

Pimlott said law enforcement officers and firefighters went door-to-door overnight pulling people out of their homes as the front of the Atlas fire moved over a ridge into Solano County. Pimlott said things could get worse as the wind kicks up late Wednesday and he expects “several of these fires will merge.”

Fire officials launched a full-scale siege Wednesday against the fires, with 73 helicopters, 30 air tankers, including a converted 747 airplane, and 550 fire engines rumbling over and around the fires.

Some of the tankers were unable to fly Tuesday because thick smoke was lingering over the fire areas, blocking pilots’ views, but that wasn’t a problem Wednesday, Pimlott said.

Even so, he said, the first priority, as it has been since the fires began Sunday, is saving lives and property. He urged people under evacuation orders to get out and stay out. California Highway Patrol reported rescues of 44 people, 5 dogs and two cats as flames approached on Tuesday.

“The potential continues to exist for peril if people don't get out of the way of these fires,” Pimlott said. “These are going to be unpredictable fires in the next couple of days.”

Ghilarducci added: “It’s all hands are on deck for this particular situation. We will continue this pace, we will continue to support this, until this situation is mitigated.”

“This is one of the biggest, most serious,” fire events in California,” said Gov. Jerry Brown. “It's not over... We have people living in communities and cities and very developed situations that are close to forests and brush that becomes kindling.”