California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) issued an emergency proclamation for Sonoma and Los Angeles counties in the wake of two major wildfires fires that have destroyed structures, incinerated prized vineyard, threatened homes, and caused the evacuation of thousands of residents.
According to an Associated Press update on Friday evening, howling winds that have fueled the destructive fires were beginning to die down. But the respite was not expected to be a long one. Residents in the northern part of the state were girding for another round of power outages aimed at preventing what are expected to be the strongest gusts in years from sparking still more blazes this weekend, AP wrote.Meanwhile, the state utility that has been criticized for imposing blackouts in order to prevent such wildfires says a transmission line that it didn’t shut off may have been the source of a blaze that was raging out of control in the Golden State.
The Kincade Fire in Sonoma County has hit wine country.
Cal Fire officials said that there were 600 structures currently threatened by the Kincade Fire. So far the fire has destroyed 49 structures including 21 homes, winery buildings and vineyards in California’s picturesque wine country.Officials said the current evacuations were holding at 2,000 residents. Cal Fire and the Sonoma County Sheriff reported first responders having some tense moments with some evacuated residents and asked for locals to remain patient as the danger in the evacuated areas continues.
The Tick Fire is burning near Santa Clarita, just north of Los Angeles. At least six structures have been destroyed and another 15,000 more are threatened in the fire, which has burned 4,300 acres and is roughly 5% contained.
Despite the fact that poor land management practices and green energy mandates that are forcing energy firms to redirect funds from infrastructure maintenance, Newsom decided to blame “corporate greed” for the precautionary outages being implemented.
“I must confess, it is infuriating beyond words,” Newsom said, accusing the utilities of neglecting their infrastructure and leaving the state vulnerable to fires sparked by outmoded power lines.His statements echoed those he made two weeks earlier, when PG&E shut off power to nearly a million customers.“It’s more than just climate change, and it is climate change, but it’s more than that,” Newsom said. “As it relates to PG&E, it’s about dog-eat-dog capitalism meeting climate change, it’s about corporate greed meeting climate change, it’s about decades of mismanagement.”
I would argue that last part is right but qualify that it’s about decades of political mismanagement.
This hot take is not playing as well as Newsom might have expected.
Meanwhile, closer to San Diego, I am keeping an eye on a brush fire in Ramona that blazed into a fast-moving wildfire. I am hoping it will be contained quickly.
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