Fire crews dig in for windy night battling Kincade fire in Sonoma County

Firefighters aggressively fought the out-of-control Kincade fire north of Sonoma County on Saturday, hoping to make progress and establish containment lines in anticipation of historically high winds that could fan the flames and push embers miles ahead overnight.

By Saturday night, the nearly 26,000-acre Kincade fire was only 11% contained, even with the help of four large air tankers during the day. The blaze had already destroyed 77 structures - 31 of them homes - and damaged another 14. At least 23,500 structures were threatened to be overrun by the fire Saturday.

Public safety officials worried that the massive blaze would spread at an even more dangerous rate as strong winds - the likes of which haven’t been seen since the deadly 2017 wildfires - were expected to burst across the North Bay overnight and into Sunday morning.

“We’re planning for the worst, but obviously it’s Mother Nature who’s in control at this point,” said Cal Fire spokesman Jonathan Cox. “I think it could be as bad if not worse (than 2017), but I think that’s just speculation.”

In anticipation of the destructive path the fire could take if conditions worsened, more than 83,000 people in Sonoma County between Highway 101 and the Pacific Ocean were ordered to evacuate Saturday. It marked the largest mass evacuation in the county’s history.

“You cannot fight this,” Sonoma County Sheriff Mark Essick said of the fire at a 6:30 p.m. news conference. “If you’re under an evacuation order, you must leave.”

The forecast also prompted PG&E to initiate the largest planned power outage this season - affecting 940,000 customers in portions of 36 counties - in the hopes of preventing its equipment from sparking another destructive wildfire. Officials urged residents to evacuate before 4 p.m. to avoid fleeing during the outage.

When deadly flames reaching 100 feet rampaged through Sonoma County two years ago with almost no warning, firefighters concentrated nearly all of their efforts on evacuating people. With winds expected to reach 80 mph in gusts - potentially even surpassing the winds in 2017 - firefighters this time around still won’t be able to tackle the blaze head-on. Their plan is to sneak around the back, said Cal Fire Battalion Chief Ben Nicholls.

Nicholls called the tactic “fire front following.” Fire crews will move in behind the leading edge of the fire and work to keep the fire off of structures before they are overtaken by flames.

The No. 1 goal overnight, Nicholls said, will be to protect structures and homes.

Preparing for the worst Saturday, Cal Fire more than doubled the number of fire personnel on the line from the day before - from 1,300 to 2,830. With 68 hand crews, 251 engines, 25 water tenders, 10 helicopters and 50 bulldozers, fire officials tackled the blaze as best they could before the dangerous winds blew through the county.

During the day, the agency also deployed the air tankers, which carry about 19,000 gallons of retardant each. One air tanker dropped its first load of retardant just before 1:30 p.m. Saturday north of Pine Flat Road in the rugged Mayacamas Mountains outside Geyserville. The low-flying plane shook homes on the edge of the Alexander Valley near the hills.

“Oh wow, that is a welcome sight,” said Dave Huebel, 40, a vineyard manager for Hafner Vineyard.

But as soon as night fell, officials had to pull back air tankers since they can only fly during daylight hours, Cox said.

Cox said firefighters also pre-painted unburned areas with retardant in the hopes of stopping the blaze’s spread later that night.

“It’s another layer of defense,” Cox said, though he noted that the fire could still travel across the lines on nearby highways.

Saturday, the most active part of the blaze remained on upper Pine Flat Road, where fire activity increased Friday even without wind, leading to a major flare-up that sent flames and embers across the road. Several thousand acres burned in the direction of Knights Valley.

Cal Fire Battalion Chief Marshall Turbeville said firefighters gave the blaze space to burn in hard-to-reach canyons and built fire breaks before it threatened more populated areas. He said it was “the most active fire” area.

While the Kincade fire wasn’t spreading nearly as fast as it had when it first sparked Wednesday night, onshore winds pushed a finger of fire to the east Friday night and created a new line of fire susceptible to the winds expected to arrive Saturday, said Cal Fire fire behavior analyst Capt. Stephen Volmer.

Firefighters could not effectively fight the new fire zone, since the terrain was too steep to attack the blaze safely. The shift prompted the new mandatory evacuations in west county, spreading all the way to the coast.

“That’s what changed the modeling,” Volmer said. “It’s that eastern side of the fire. When it gets in contact with that northeast wind, that’s gonna channel it down toward (Highway) 128 and into the proximity of Windsor and Healdsburg.”

Before winds picked up Saturday night, Cox said fire officials were “hoping for the best but expecting the worst.” He said while winds were expected to die down after Sunday, the situation would be “critical” until firefighters could make progress on tackling the flames.

“Until we actually get some increased containment, we’re going to be faced with the threat of the fire growing,” Cox said.

Staff Writers Tyler Silvy and Julie Johnson contributed to this report. You can reach Staff Writer Chantelle Lee at 707-521-5337 or chantelle.lee@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @ChantelleHLee.