Fire burning in east Napa hills | Napa Valley Register

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Fire burning in east Napa hills

Sunday, June 22, 2008

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9 p.m.More than 1,000 acres have burned in a fire near Wild Horse Valley Road in the east Napa hills. CalFire is responding to the fire, which is currently straddling the Napa / Solano county border. Voluntary evacuations are in effect for the Solano County side.

Check back often for more updates to the story, and use the comments to tell us what you are seeing.

65 comment(s)

incognito wrote on Jun 21, 2008 4:55 PM:

" WOW!!That is a lot of smoke I am seen all the way from the Partrick Rd. area. "

supernova8610 wrote on Jun 21, 2008 4:58 PM:

" I'm in Browns Valley, and I can see the smoke really well from my backyard. "

GrapeGirl24 wrote on Jun 21, 2008 5:04 PM:

" I see the fire in the hills right by my house. It's so big. It looks like the volcano exploded with lots of smoke. I didn't see any firefighters or helicopters at the sea. "

silence dogood wrote on Jun 21, 2008 5:05 PM:

" I can see the smoke billowing over the hills from here. It looks like it's still going. "

theodora wrote on Jun 21, 2008 5:19 PM:

" i live up there and right now we are being evacuated. the flames are amazing. the ranch lost one of its barns, but it seems like the whole fire department is out here. thank you. "

napadad wrote on Jun 21, 2008 5:32 PM:

" anybody know what direction its heading? Where are you evacuated from Theodora? "

NapaNana wrote on Jun 21, 2008 5:52 PM:

" Some of my boys are at the NASCAR race today. thay are getting a clear view of it from the hill over there. "

elb wrote on Jun 21, 2008 5:52 PM:

" It took a barn out? I hope there were no animals in there. Can someone let us know if there were and whether they got out safely? "

bloodagar wrote on Jun 21, 2008 5:52 PM:

" Wow...we can see it from our house...but we live in North Napa. Our family will pray for the safety of emergency responders and the families being evacuated. Anyone know where the evacuees will be placed? Any info would be great...we have extra waters and stuff! "

injoy wrote on Jun 21, 2008 6:00 PM:

" Im in East Napa right now, it's starting to look better. "

GregN. wrote on Jun 21, 2008 6:02 PM:

" My friend who is waiting to be sent up there says it's actually 300 acres. "

cnelson2 wrote on Jun 21, 2008 6:08 PM:

" I'm on Okell Hill and 7 minutes ago, the fire was at 340 acres and spreading quickly. It got 7 times in size in 50 minutes. "

injoy wrote on Jun 21, 2008 6:20 PM:

" I just heard that the fire jumped the ridge, and it's on its way down towards Solano co.
It's between 400-500 acres. Crews will work through the night.

Our prayers are with CDF! "

richaelsmommie wrote on Jun 21, 2008 6:28 PM:

" I live by the Napa State Hospital and the smoke is bad. I can see the fire from my front window and it looks aweful. Has anybody contacted the Napa Humane Society about helping with the animals that are getting evicted. My prayers are with everybody up there. GOOD JOB NCFD "

lunatuna wrote on Jun 21, 2008 6:29 PM:

" my faimly owns the property thats burning. does anyone know where there's pictures? we want to know if our cabin is burning. "

Dhappel54 wrote on Jun 21, 2008 6:33 PM:

" Channel 5 (CBS) just reported the fire as 300 acres and burning towards the Solano County line. They report voluntary evacuations. Twelve engines, 3 tankers and more equipment and crews coming. "

injoy wrote on Jun 21, 2008 6:42 PM:

" I just heard that the fire jumped the ridge, and it's on its way down towards Solano co. line
It's between 400-500 acres. Crews will work through the night.

Our prayers are with CDF! "

sickothis wrote on Jun 21, 2008 6:44 PM:

" Just watched two CDF tankers bomb it. Very cool. "

injoy wrote on Jun 21, 2008 6:47 PM:

" I just heard they are starting the air attack... "

autumn wrote on Jun 21, 2008 6:49 PM:

" i think it is entirely possible that we can see this fire from the hill we live on in San Francisco. i've been trying to find out where it was! http://www.flickr.com/photos/weathereye/2598577407/

*wishing a cool night and and good luck to everyone in the area* "

injoy wrote on Jun 21, 2008 6:50 PM:

" Thank Goodness the air tankers are on the scene now. The smoke is huge! "

sunny wrote on Jun 21, 2008 6:57 PM:

" I live upvalley and just heard what sounded like another air tanker headed that direction. This is so scary.
My prayers are with the firefighters and anyone whose property is in harm's way.l "

injoy wrote on Jun 21, 2008 7:12 PM:

" Just remembered that today is the anniversary of the 1981 Atlas Peak Fire. That blaze blackened 23,600 acres within 24 hours.

Keeping CDF in our prayers! "

napanee wrote on Jun 21, 2008 7:13 PM:

" Go to CBS 5 and check out the Mt. Vaca live cam. "

sickothis wrote on Jun 21, 2008 7:14 PM:

" I have a great view of the East Hills from my second story, and unless the wind has shifted it looks like it's coming back up the ridge on the South side, and there was just a huge plume of black smoke. Looks like it's getting substantially bigger from here. "

gogojr1 wrote on Jun 21, 2008 7:43 PM:

" IT STARTED AS A SMALL DARK CLOUD AND ALL OF A SUDEN EVERYTHING WAS DARK AND I COULDN'T REALLY TELL IF IT WAS A FIRE OR NOT UNTIL I SAW THE BLAZE AND ALL THE SMOKE..I HAVE PICTURES BUT THIS ENGINE WON'T LET ME UPLOAD THEM "

shangman wrote on Jun 21, 2008 7:46 PM:

" driving home from San Francisco I could see dark clouds! I thought it was fog rolling in, but as I drove into American Canyon/South Napa I could see it was a fire. Stay safe everyone!! "

aivat wrote on Jun 21, 2008 7:50 PM:

" I live in Vacaville and the fire is coming over solano co hills. I saw some of our VFD boys coming that way with tankers of water! God bless them all. Pray for no wind and safety. "

cnelson2 wrote on Jun 21, 2008 7:56 PM:

" CDF just reported the fire is 750 acres and spreading rapidly down into Solano County side of Twin Sisters. "

MarkMiwords wrote on Jun 21, 2008 8:08 PM:

" Blog moderator, please allow me to post this. People dealing with this fire need up to date info. Go to Channel 5's cbs5.com and click "web cam" on the weather page, for live and continuously updated web cam photos of the Vaca Mountains.

My prayers for all those involved---M.M. "

tarvos0 wrote on Jun 21, 2008 8:31 PM:

" This is a time the Internet really works for us. What direction is the fire moving? I live in Fairfield and Suisun Valley road toward Napa County line's 8 miles northwest of me. My kids and I are watching what seems like Armaggedon with the Vaca Mountain fire and a huge fire on the other side of town. Is the fire moving east, southeast? Anyone know? "

capmac wrote on Jun 21, 2008 8:32 PM:

" I live on Twin Sisters and went up the hill around 7PM. Talked to a fire offical who said evacuation on Twin Sisters remains voluntary. He said the wind had shifted north away from us and that we should be okay but a firetruck would come to each residence if things changed in the night. He said he would not consider the fire contained at this time. The smoke is still very heavy. If you have entry gates to your property leave them open if possible. "

MarkMiwords wrote on Jun 21, 2008 8:49 PM:

" TARVOS0------ Go to Channel 5's cbs5.com and click on Weather. On the right-hand side of the Weather page, to the right of the 7-Day forecast, is a map of live-time temperature & wind mph and direction. It also includes humidity readings. There are "keys" all over the map for different reporting areas. The Napa/Fairfield area "key" number is 83. It takes a few moments for the whole thing to load, but I think this info will help you a lot. Good Luck! Be Safe!---M.M. "

Joe wrote on Jun 21, 2008 9:01 PM:

" Many of you seem so surprised that you can see smoke from not even far away. You would be able to see it from the top of Mt. Tam. Maybe even from San Francisco. "

supernova8610 wrote on Jun 21, 2008 9:08 PM:

" I can see the flames pretty good from my backyard, now that its dark. "

Skip M. wrote on Jun 21, 2008 9:11 PM:

" OK, for those of you who question the heavy response to the Coombsville Road fire last week, this is what happens when a small fire is allowed to progress before that response. I fear this is going to be a very heavy fire year. "

elb wrote on Jun 21, 2008 9:22 PM:

" "injoy" says this is the anniversary to the 1981 Atlas Peak fire. If that really is the case then I really hope this isn't some sick arsonists way of celebrating.

Praying for the crews and all the structures and of course the residents and their pets that might be in harms way. Lord, keep everyone safe and bring this to a swift end. "

lmk wrote on Jun 21, 2008 9:26 PM:

" thank you to everyone who wrote in about the info on the cbs 5 webcam. It was very helpful "

native74 wrote on Jun 21, 2008 9:33 PM:

" It really doesn't look like it's slowing down this evening. The flames look pretty intimidating from my viewpoint of the ridgeline (just west of the airport). I just hope the wind dies down. "

Dan Ross wrote on Jun 21, 2008 9:37 PM:

" The CBS5 Web cam link is on this page, right alongside the article. With nightfall setting in, the Web cam is not much help, though

Now that night has set in, flames can be seen at the top of the hill from the Fairfield side of the fire. "

MarkMiwords wrote on Jun 21, 2008 9:39 PM:

" IMK---- You're welcome. My sister went through the Martin fire in Santa Cruz county last week. What helped her most was current information. I have checked the Cal Fire Incident site, but this fire is probably too new to be listed on it. It could possibly show up tomorrow a.m. "Google" Cal Fire Incident Reports to get information from CDF. They report acres and structures burned, report on percentage of containment, and list phone numbers for information. (Very difficult to get through for the Martin fire. You must keep pushing "re-dial" until you get through.) Prayers are with you. Take Care. --- M.M. "

wj707 wrote on Jun 21, 2008 10:00 PM:

" We just drove into Napa from the south on 29. Huge vertical flames seen in the Wild Horse Valley area and an orange glow rising from surrrounding ridges above. It looks like a volcano erupting. Very eerie. Is there any hope for containment soon ? I pray for those and all animals in harms' way. "

Baraki wrote on Jun 21, 2008 10:02 PM:

" It's bizarre to look out my bedroom window and see the flames on the east side of the valley! It looks so innocent from this vantage point, but is wreaking such havoc... wish there was some way to tell the fire what to burn: grass = okay, houses = not okay "

injoy wrote on Jun 21, 2008 10:05 PM:

" Now that it's dark, the orange glow makes us nervous and we don't think it's slowing down anytime soon. Our prayers are with all in the line of fire and for all the CDF & law enforcement who are on the job tonight. Thank you. "

napadad wrote on Jun 21, 2008 10:43 PM:

" NBC is reporting the fire has 5000 acre potential. That doesn't sound good at all. "

funnyme wrote on Jun 21, 2008 11:52 PM:

" I just drove back from St Helena, and the orange glow looks "beautiful" in a very bizarre way.
I really hope the firemen get it under control soon and no lives or structures are lost. "

Jenn wrote on Jun 22, 2008 12:07 AM:

" Havent seen an update on here, so thought Id say what it is. Channel 4 at 11 talked with a lady that works for CDF I think and she said that evacuations are mandatory in some areas now, like Twin sisters, and wild horse valley road on the solono side and Napa side was still voluntary. and it has reached 2000 acres, 10% containment. I hope that they can get this under control soon, I really hope that no one looses their homes or anyone gets hurt. "

bettye wrote on Jun 22, 2008 12:24 AM:

" Do any of you remember the fire in the 1960's when all the hills on the east side of Napa Valley were burning ? This fire came to the city limits of Calistoga ,I believe .. It was very frightening to go to bed at night and see the fire on the surrounding hills ..Lots of homes lost ,I don't recall how many.. Our firefighters are doing a tremendous job in this heat and the wind gusts Thanks to all of them.. God Bless you ... "

Napanee wrote on Jun 22, 2008 7:18 AM:

" To bettye, I remember that. We had fires on the west side of the valley too. In the old days we had a KVON radio station that was on duty all the time to update us on what was going on. They had a sense of humor and played Johnny Cash's song Ring of Fire all the time. "

Skip M. wrote on Jun 22, 2008 9:06 AM:

" Bettye: I remember that fire. My grandparents had a house on Big Ranch Road with a huge picture window looking to the east. I remember sitting for hours at that window watch the fire burn. My Grandfather was the Chief of Police, and two of my uncles were in Deputy Sheriffs at the time, so we had inside information about where the fire was headed. Both of my Grandmas, my mom, and aunts were all busy making sandwiches to send to the men on the fire line. I remember that point because I got in big trouble for snatching one. My family had property on Atlas Peak, and Mount George at that time. We had a dairy at the base of Mount George.

As Napanee makes note, those fires did completely encircle the valley. As I recall, those fires turned out to have been started by a contractor that had an agreement to provide heavy equipment to cut fire breaks.

I’m not sure CDF allows the community to be as involved in supporting the fire fighters now as was possible then. But as I think of this, I will see if I can find out. Perhaps NVR would have better contacts than I for this type of information though.

KCRA Channel 3 (Sacramento) has just reported on the Napa (Solano) fire. They report the fire 10% contained at this time. "

lunatuna wrote on Jun 22, 2008 9:55 AM:

" Does anyone know of a map anywhere thats showing what has burned? We're trying to figure out if our faimly property got burned, and if so what parts and how much. It would be very helpful for my faimly, thank you. "

vocal-de-local wrote on Jun 22, 2008 10:15 AM:

" I'm in Angwin and the smoke is still thick here. We left windows open last night to cool the house down and wow, is it smoky in here this morning!

We were sitting on the deck last night and saw flames shooting up in the distance. As the crow flies, maybe this area is not terribly far from Angwin? I see the lights of Napa from my house and so it's possible that the flames I saw were from the Wild Horse fire. I heard that the CDF was conducting practice burns in Angwin, though. We saw the flames after dark. Would they still be conducting these practices at that time, especially when the "real thing" was happening elsewhere? I assume that the sudden burst of high flames we saw were trees burning. We saw a lot of them and it was very strange seeing these sudden burst of glow in the dark.

We're in for a bad fire season. Anyone who lives in the woods should consider clearing back a little more this year. Napa County will chip the wood for you. I'm going to replace my deck with a material that is fireproof, like soon. "

dolphin wrote on Jun 22, 2008 11:01 AM:

" Lunatuna: a map of the burn area would be great for all of us at this point. Unfortunately, I haven't found anything of the sort. I'm in Green Valley - I can't see any flames but the sky actually looks overcast due to all the smoke. On KCBS.com, the latest online report states, "Mandatory evacuations began Saturday night on Twin Sisters Road, Joyce Lane, and Suisun Valley Road to about four miles above the county line. Precautionary evacuations were also issued for residents west of Wooden Valley Road in Napa County." When I was watching the news at 8am this morning on KRON 4, they reported that no homes have been destroyed, and only 1 abandoned structure has been burned. I hope this information is helpful to you. "

Hideousclaw wrote on Jun 22, 2008 11:04 AM:

" I Wrote this last night and I thought id Share it.

I watched the fire tonight From Westwood Hills. It was really amazing. Beyond its destructive ways, it was really pretty. the range of colors in the fire was fascinating. DARK Red, orange, yellow. It was really pretty. Seeing trees go up in flames and the fire just light up the sky and grow tall. It was dancing around.

While we were watching this fire, we saw power transformers arc. We think they were the ones by Soscol Cafe. All we saw were HUGE green lights. SUPER Bright and amazing. They were beautiful. We heard the loud buzz of electricity screaming through the quiet night. There were like... 4 of them. They all arced right after each other. The power in the town went out. The town fell silent for mere seconds.

Then, in the same Majestic lights or the Arcing transformers, the power came on. It was really pretty.

It was truly amazing! A Great Experience! "

Napanee wrote on Jun 22, 2008 12:08 PM:

" lunatuna, try the state site for fires. www.fire.ca.gov. Go to the fire incident section and look for the Napa fire. They update the info all the time and have a phone number that may help you out. "

Dan Ross wrote on Jun 22, 2008 12:35 PM:

" go to this Web site's home page and click on the Wild Horse Valley fire updates article for updated information as we receive it, comlete with evacuation center address, CalFire links and phone numbers "

WSGilcrest wrote on Jun 22, 2008 2:05 PM:

" Here's a screen cap from Google Earth with the MODIS active fire mapping loaded.

http://img508.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wildfireje2.jpg

While not complete, it will give you an idea of the fire's location. I've added a few placemarksd for reference. "

artsy wrote on Jun 22, 2008 2:22 PM:

" Re: the previous comment by one individual on the beauty of the fire:
I am an optimist and artist and appreciate beauty. But if you are victim to it's destruction, I don't think you would appreciate this beauty you speak of. It's nice that you can see the beauty from your place of safety, but I must remind you that to many people within the last month, these fires have NOT represented beauty. Peoples' homes and belongings have been completely destroyed. (And, fortunately for my parents, they live in northern Paradise, not the southern area that lost over 70 homes). Lives are threatened by these "beautiful" fires. (Folks seemed to have enough warning in the Humbolt fire and scrambled to get themselves, their pets, horses, livestock, etc out, yet I'm sure there has been loss of wildlife in these CA fires and beyond). Firefighters from all over are putting their lives on the line day and night and working very hard to fight and control these devastatingly destructive and sometimes uncontrollable fires, as they work to protect homes and structures and lives. I hope people will keep in mind the devastation and heartbreaking sadness that fire can leave in it's wake. Please pray for all those involved and the firefighters. "

mssryder wrote on Jun 22, 2008 3:58 PM:

" In Green Valley Highlands -- I received 2 phone calls, ID said "unavailable" and the call was a fast busy signal. My neighbor received a taped emergency message this morning that said be ready for evacuation. She has since left and I received two more calls with the same signal.
The air is fairly clear around my home, but I see the thick smoke just over a couple of hills. Fire crews went around checking hydrants on my street, airplanes & helecoptors flying around, but it is very difficult to get updated information. TV news is not detailed, internet sources updated every few hours.
Can somebody post a map updated with the areas affected by the fire? "

cindys wrote on Jun 22, 2008 10:07 PM:

" Living here on the East side of town, last night the flames were pretty bright and scary. Being born and raised in Napa it brought back memories of the Atlas Peak fire in 1981. I am so thankful for our firefighters and how hard they worked to get this fire under control.THANK YOU WE LOVE OUR HARD WORKING FIRE MEN "

ADark1 wrote on Jun 23, 2008 5:15 AM:

" Just getting in from yolo county..about 2 hours ago and the smoke was pretty thick...traffic had to slow down when you got a chance to see the hills outside vacaville "

Chewyv wrote on Jun 23, 2008 9:58 AM:

" Report from Hayward/Fremont easy bay area.

At 4 a.m. today I smelled freshly burning wood, like what you smell during your camp fire.

Walked up the street and around the corner thinking a neighbor's house or some new construction was afire...nothing. But the strong smell never went away.

Called local police to see if there were fires in town..answer was no and that we were smelling the fires that are to the east, west, north and south of us!

Learned later that when grass burns, it's complete so smells like ash, but burning trees doused with water produce the fresh wood "aroma".

Skies are still blue with some clouds...haven't got that eerie end-of-the-world looking haze yet that we did following a Santa Cruz fire. "

Dan Ross wrote on Jun 23, 2008 12:12 PM:

" For our most recent updates on this fire, please go back to the homepage and click on Wild Horse Valley fire updates.
Thanks
--Dan "

mytwocents wrote on Jun 24, 2008 8:07 PM:

" aivat_ hope the smoke clears over your way soon- according to the news we'll get an off shore breeze that will move it south of us. Thank you and job well done to the CDF and the VFD and Fairfield too! "

BorregoEd wrote on Oct 10, 2008 8:56 PM:

" My grandaughter attends Pacific Union Colege in Angwin and was wondering if anyone can tell me if the campus is any danger? "

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