Tens of thousands of residents have been evacuated from towns including the entirety of wine tourism destination Calistoga. AFP
Two wildfires in the US State of California that ravaged Napa’s famous wine region and killed three people exploded in size on Tuesday as firefighters faced a weeks-long battle to contain the blazes.
The so-called Glass Fire enveloping some of northern California’s world-famous vineyards has scorched 17,000ha and remains uncontained, despite the efforts of some 1,500 firefighters.
Celebrated Napa wineries such as Chateau Boswell and part of Castello di Amorosa have been lost to the flames, which reached the fringes of Santa Rosa – the largest town in neighbouring Sonoma County.
Tens of thousands of residents have been evacuated from towns including the entirety of wine tourism destination Calistoga.
“It looks like a bomb went off,” 61-year-old resident Joe Ortega told the San Francisco Chronicle. “The trees go up like matches.”
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) official Jonathan Cox said 80 houses have been destroyed between the two counties.
Santa Rosa fire chief Tony Gossner said it would take weeks to bring the flames under control, warning that “it’s going to be kind of long, and it’s going to be painful”.
The region is still reeling from devastating wildfires in 2017 when 44 people died and thousands of buildings were razed.
Further north the deadly Zogg Fire that killed at least three people has now ripped through 16,000ha, again without containment.
Both fires were sparked on Sunday by unknown sources and spread rapidly through dry vegetation due to high winds that have since eased. Temperatures remain high in the region.
The new blazes come during a record season, with five of California’s six biggest wildfires in history currently burning and 1.5 million hectares scorched.
Climate change amplifies droughts which dry out regions, creating ideal conditions for wildfires to spread out-of-control and inflict unprecedented material and environmental damage.
Governor Gavin Newsom on Monday warned that California is only “now moving into the peak of the wildfire season”, with Santa Ana winds sweeping south toward Los Angeles, where another major heatwave is expected.
Evacuations have been complicated by the coronavirus, which has hit the Golden State hard with more than 810,000 confirmed cases.
