Winds fan deadly California wildfires, more homes evacuated

Rising winds fanned the California wildfires again Saturday, forcing hundreds more people to flee from their homes in the state's fabled wine country and testing the efforts of crews who have spent days trying to corral the flames behind firebreaks.

Just a day after firefighters reported making significant progress, the winds kicked up several hours before dawn and pushed flames into the hills on the edge of Sonoma, a town of 11,000. About 400 homes were evacuated as the fires threatened Sonoma and a portion of Santa Rosa that included a retirement community that evacuated earlier this week, authorities said.

Nearly a week after the blazes began, the fire zone had swollen to an area as long as 161 kilometres on one side. The flames have left at least 40 people dead and destroyed at least 5,700 homes and businesses, making them the deadliest and most destructive group of wildfires California has ever seen. 

California Gov. Jerry Brown and Sen. Dianne Feinstein said they have never seen a more destructive and deadly wildfire in their lifetime.

The comments from the longtime Californians come as they, along with Sen. Kamala Harris, visited the fire zones on Saturday to meet with emergency responders and local residents.

Brown called the disaster "one of the greatest tragedies California has ever faced." He told residents the danger remains and urged them to evacuate when asked to do so.

No details were released on the dead, but it is likely the people were killed soon after the fires broke out nearly a week ago and their bodies were just discovered. 

California authorities said they are sorting through 300 unresolved missing persons reports, but they don't believe the death toll related to the wildfires will be anywhere near that number.

Napa County spokesperson Molly Rattigan said investigators were trying to resolve 74 missing persons cases.

Sonoma County has about 220 unresolved missing person reports. Sheriff's Sgt. Spencer Crum said most of the reports are from faraway friends and relatives, and the missing just haven't reached out to them yet.

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On Saturday, an unknown number of additional structures burned down in a rural area, said Daniel Berlant, a spokesperson for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Judy Guttridge, who was leaving her home for the second time this week, said her daughter saw flames advancing over the side of a hill around the same time Bordigioni did and told the family to get out.

"I have good insurance, everything," she said. "All the kids, grandkids, great-grandkids are fine. I'm OK with that."

Firefighters spent much of the last week digging defence lines to keep the flames from spreading. On Friday, they tried to fortify the edge of Sonoma using bulldozers and other heavy equipment.

Flames nearing barriers

But if winds push the flames over that barrier, neighbourhoods including some of the town's costliest homes were in the path, along with a historic central plaza built centuries ago when the area was under Spanish rule.

The renewed strength of the winds was "testing the work that we accomplished," Berlant said. The greatest risk was that winds would blow embers across the firebreaks and ignite new blazes.

By early afternoon, state fire officials said they had halted the fire's advance into the city of Sonoma. But winds gusting up to 64 km/h were expected to continue throughout the day and into the evening.

The latest estimates showed that about 100,000 people were under evacuation orders as the fires burned for a sixth day. Some people who have been evacuated all week demanded to get back into their homes.

Douglas and Marian Taylor stood outside their apartment complex Saturday in Santa Rosa with their two dogs and a sign that said "End evacuation now."

Their building was unharmed at the edge of the evacuation zone with a police barricade set up across the street. The couple said they are spending about $300 per day to rent a motel and eat out, and they want to return because the fire does not appear to threaten their home.

Elsewhere, examples of charity were everywhere, along with a sign that began popping up in more and more places: "The love in the air is thicker than the smoke."

Astonishing video released from the fire's hellish first night showed the courage of the deputies and firefighters working amid the flames.

"Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!" an unidentified Sonoma County deputy can be heard yelling in the body-camera video released by the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office. The footage was recorded as he urged hesitant drivers to speed out of a town that was being devoured by flames.

The deputy is shown lifting a disabled woman out of her wheelchair and into an SUV to rush her out of town. And he drives through walls of flame looking for more people to help.

"And that's just one person," Sonoma County Sheriff Rob Giordano said at a news conference.

At an RV evacuation site at Sonoma Raceway, evacuees counted their blessings, trying not to think about what they had lost and what they might yet lose.

The mood at sunset Friday was upbeat, even cheerful, as children and dogs played in the twilight. More than 100 campers were parked by the side of a highway. There were portable bathrooms and tables groaning from donated water bottles, stuffed animals and food.

More than a dozen fires broke out nearly simultaneously on Oct. 8 and people had little time to escape. Most of the deaths were elderly people.

In all, 17 large fires still burned across the northern part of the state, with more than 9,000 firefighters attacking the flames using air tankers, helicopters and more than 1,000 fire engines.