Fire crews keep Glass fire from growing overnight, reach 50% containment

Glass fire containment

Fire crews made significant progress battling the Glass fire overnight, pushing containment of the 66,840-acre blaze to 50% by Tuesday morning as the wildfire burns into its second week in Sonoma and Napa counties.

Despite warm and dry conditions, firefighters prevented the fire from growing and expanded containment lines by 9% since Monday night, Cal Fire reported.

The tally of single- and multifamily homes destroyed reached 600 Tuesday, with 314 losses in Sonoma County and 290 in Napa County, according to Cal Fire. Almost 22,000 structures remain threatened Tuesday, a number roughly constant throughout the week so far.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Cal Fire had assessed around 65% of the fire for property damage, a spokesperson said.

Evacuation areas

Authorities on Tuesday lifted evacuation orders for some areas in Sonoma County near Porter Creek Road, Bennett Valley Road and more parts of the community of Kenwood, according to the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office.

Residents living in the following evacuation zones are allowed to return home. View a map of evacuation zones here.

Zone 2M3:

Areas north of Porter Creek Road and Petrified Forest Road, east of Franz Valley Road, west of the Napa County line and south of Franz Valley School Road.

Zone 3P1:

Areas north of Bennett Valley Road, east of the Santa Rosa city limits, west of Savannah Trail and south of Trione-Annadel State Park.

Zone 6A1:

Areas north of Bennett Valley Road, east of Trione-Annadel State Park and the Santa Rosa city limits, west of Warm Springs Road and south of Highway 12.

Zone 6A2:

Areas north of Arnold Drive, east of Warm Springs Road, west of Highway 12 and south of Warm Springs Road.

Zone 6B3:

Areas north of Trinity Road, east of Highway 12, west of the Napa County line, and south of Nelligan Road and Nuns Canyon Road.

In Napa County, authorities downgraded evacuation orders to warnings for some parts of the city of St. Helena, according to Cal Fire.

Residents may return to homes along Old Howell Mountain Road from Silverado Trail to the end of city limits, as well along the north side of Madrona Avenue between Highway 29 and Spring Mountain Road to the northern edge of the city.

All evacuation orders for the rest St. Helena remain in effect, including along Spring Mountain and White Sulphur Springs roads.

Evacuation orders were also downgraded for areas in the communities of Angwin, Pope Valley, Meadowood and Conn Valley.

View a map of evacuation areas in Napa County here.

Power and gas restoration

Around 4,450 Pacific Gas and Electric customers remained without power in Napa and Sonoma counties as of Monday, with 650 of them in Sonoma County areas including east Santa Rosa and Kenwood, according to the utility. In total, at least 25,000 customers lost power due to the Glass fire.

PG&E said it has about 500 workers restoring gas and electricity service.

The utility aims to restore gas for customers in the community of Oakmont over the next couple of days, a spokesperson said. Evacuees returning home can request to have their gas service service turned on at a PG&E drive-thru site at 7025 Oakmont Drive.

Glass fire activity

A small brush fire broke out and was quickly contained Tuesday afternoon at Spring Lake near the Glass fire burn area in Trione-Annadel State Park, according to the Santa Rosa Fire Department.

Firefighters, including crews assigned to battle the Glass fire, held the blaze under an acre. No homes were threatened or evacuations ordered.

Meanwhile, the Glass fire’s northern front in Napa County remains the most active part of the blaze. That includes along Highway 29 near Mount St. Helena, a rural area where steep, heavily wooded terrain complicates firefighting.

In a Facebook video update Tuesday, Cal Fire Battalion Chief Sean Norman said crews have connected control lines around that area, keeping the fire from crossing the highway or spreading north toward Lake County.

“Today’s focus is on reinforcing those lines because we’re not done yet,” Norman said. “Our guard is not down. We surged more troops in there today so that they are in there working hard to keep that fire in check.”

In Sonoma County, officials said there are no active fire threats to local communities. Still, crews are keeping a close eye on the areas along Adobe Canyon Road into Sugarloaf Ridge State Park above still-evacuated homes near Kenwood.

“Adobe Canyon today looked really good,” Norman said, adding that fires lines in the area have held. “... Adobe Canyon will go through the effort of having PG&E coming in to have the utilities stood back up.”

The number of firefighters battling the wildfire remained stable at almost 2,800 as of Tuesday morning, according to Cal Fire, a sharp increase from the roughly 2,000 early last week.

Weather and air quality

Air quality regulators have extended a Spare the Air Alert for most of the Bay Area through Thursday, meaning unhealthy air conditions are expected to persist later into the week.

Ralph Borrmann, a spokesperson for the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, said that while winds from the northwest have cleared smoke from some of the Bay Area, haze will linger in parts of Napa and Sonoma counties due to the Glass fire as well as other massive wildfires burning in Northern California.

The air district forecasts air quality to remain at least at levels “unhealthy for sensitive groups” through Thursday.

Borrmann pointed to a chance of rain forecast for later in the week as reason for optimism. It could flush out the stubborn smoke.

“That’s quite a game changer,” he said.

National Weather Service models early Tuesday afternoon predicted a roughly 30% chance of around an inch of rain for the North Bay starting as early as Thursday, said meteorologist Anna Schneider.

Forecasters also expect cooler temperatures and more humid conditions starting Wednesday, which could help firefighting efforts.

Cal Fire Battalion Chief Sean Norman said crews battling the Glass fire would welcome the potential rainfall.

“It would be extremely beneficial for us,” Norman said in a Facebook video update Tuesday. “I don’t think it would enough to takes us out of fire season as a whole. But it certainly would be beneficial on the fire.”

You can reach Staff Writer Ethan Varian at ethan.varian@pressdemocrat.com or 707-521-5412. On Twitter @ethanvarian