Napa wildfire partially controlled

A Napa County wildfire that had forced hundreds of people from their homes and burned one house was 40 percent contained Saturday, fire authorities said.

The fire northeast of St. Helena had reached 300 acres overnight, but most evacuated residents were being allowed back into the area, said Nancy Carniglia, a spokeswoman with the California Department of Fire and Forestry Protection.

There are no projections yet of full containment, but “it’s looking pretty good,” she said.

California Department of Forestry Fire Chief Ernie Loveless said the fire was believed to have been started by a pickup truck that went off Deer Park Park Road on a sharp curve. He said the truck hit a rock, creating a spark that caused the blaze.

The pickup went down an embankment, ending up below the home Jimmy and Darlene McDannald(cq), which was soon engulfed in flames.

Jimmy McDannald, 83, said he had gone to the store in nearby Angwin about 15 minutes before the fire started. He was on the way back with his mail and groceries when he was stopped by the CHP at a roadblock.

He said he watched from Sunset Point just above the blaze as his home burn down.

He’d had the 1,500 sq. ft. home built in 1970. The retired truck mechanic said his family has owned the 10-acre property since 1942.

“When you get a fire of that intensity, and the wind, it’s just overpowering, McDannald said Saturday as he picked through the ruins.

His wife Darlene, 72, had been in Lodi Friday night, where she watched on television as her home was destroyed.

“It's just a miracle he wasn’t in there,” she said Saturday.

No other structures were reported burned Saturday. One other structure that wasn’t a residence had gone up in flames on Friday.

Deer Park residents began voluntary evacuations Friday — with evacuation centers set up in Angwin and St. Helena — but those had ceased by Saturday morning.

That presented a slightly more reassuring situation than late Friday, when firefighters said they had “zero containment” and warned that the blaze, with wind behind it, could grow rapidly.

“Night-time conditions were very conducive to fighting fire,” Carniglia said. “We had a lot of people out there, temperatures were lower and humidity was high.”

Still, winds of eight to 10 miles an hour were blowing Saturday and red flag warnings that took effect Thursday with the onset of dry, northerly winds remained in place today with 1,500 firefighting personnel on the fire lines.

Up to 200 homes are still considered threatened, as well as 10 commercial properties including some small wineries, Carniglia said.

“If the weather conditions get worse then they are in the path of the fire,” she said.

The fire erupted in the afternoon in rugged terrain near “Devil’s Elbow,” a severe switchback on Deer Park Road between Deer Park and the town of Angwin.

The fire grew from 30 acres to 200 acres within hours.