Berkeley Hills Dwellers Ponder 'Pre-Evacuation' as Red Flag Winds Approach
Sunday's red flag warning was being called a "20-year wind event" and Berkeley officials were recommending that people living in the hills begin evacuating immediately.
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Sunday's red flag warning was being called a "20-year wind event" and Berkeley officials were recommending that people living in the hills begin evacuating immediately.
The Contra Costa Fire Protection District circulated a notice Sunday afternoon saying, "County residents in areas susceptible to wildland fire may want to consider relocating ahead of this (high wind) event."
Winds will remain relatively calm through Sunday afternoon, but once the sun goes down, the threat of powerful winds with gusts as high as 70 mph and devastating wildfires will soar across the San Francisco Bay Area hills.
This is the first time this year PG&E has included Berkeley in a Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) warning - an indication of how powerful the dangerous wildfire wind event is expected to be starting Sunday afternoon.
A burst of gusty winds forecast to begin Sunday will be carrying the same wildfire threat as the weather conditions that helped spark the deadly 2017 Wine County October firestorm that included the devastating Tubbs Fire, the National Weather Service warned.
Many of the same areas affected by wildfire are also affected by PG&E's public safety power shutoffs and Sonoma County has got pretty good at preparing for both situations.
Crews gained containment overnight of the Pope Fire, burning in grassy woodlands in the Napa County hills east of Angwin and St Helena.
Several public parks in the East Bay hills will be closed Sunday in anticipation of high winds, low humidity and dry vegetation that will combine to pose a significant fire risk, the East Bay Regional Parks District officials have announced.
Parts of the Bay Area have been in and out of red flag warnings all month but this Sunday's wind event is going to bring winds that we have not seen this year.
Crews in the North Bay are making progress containing the Pope Fire that broke out in Napa County east of the communities of Angwin and Saint Helena Friday afternoon.
PG&E said it will black out customers in 38 California counties -- including most of the San Francisco Bay Area -- as weather forecasts called for a return of bone-dry, gusty weather that carries the threat of downing or fouling power lines
The National Weather Service on Friday upgraded a declared Fire Weather Watch to a Red Flag Warning for the East Bay Hills and valleys, the North Bay Mountains and Santa Cruz Mountains starting Sunday morning.
Officials with PG&E announced Thursday morning that the planned Public Safety Power Shutoff has been scaled back and would not impact any Bay Area counties.
Pacific Gas & Electric Co. announced that 37,000 customers in 15 counties will have their electricity turned off in the latest round of Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS).
All the fires across California this year has put a strain on firefighters and their families across the state.
A brush fire has shut down lanes on Interstate 880 at Stevens Creek Boulevard, in San Jose.
The National Weather Service has issued a Red Flag Warning from 10 p.m. Wednesday to 8 a.m. Friday for elevated portions of the Bay Area due to high fire danger from predicted gusty winds and low humidity.
Cal Fire officials announced 100 percent containment of the Glass Fire Tuesday -- a blaze that roared through 67,484 acres in Sonoma and Napa counties, destroying 642 homes and laying to waste 365 commercial buildings, including nearly two dozen wineries.
A small brush fire that forced the evacuation of approximately 100 homes late Saturday afternoon has been contained, according to Vacaville fire officials.
A 4-alarm fire broke out in a South San Francisco warehouse Friday afternoon, sending black smoke across the city not long after fire crews contained a grass fire near the South San Francisco sign.
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday afternoon tweeted that he had spoken to President Donald Trump on the phone and gotten approval for California's Major Disaster Declaration request.
Some parts of the North Bay are still in the dark due to PG&E public safety power shutoffs and it has become a health and safety issue for one neighborhood in Calistoga
More than 22,000 Pacific Gas & Electric Co. customers in the Bay Area remained without electricity Thursday due to the Public Safety Power Shutoff, a measure taken to decrease the risk of wildfires.
Firefighters have stopped forward progress of a two-alarm vegetation fire burning near I-80 in Fairfield Thursday afternoon, according to the city's Fire Department.
Wildfires churned out dense plumes of smoke this summer as they scorched huge swaths of the West Coast, exposing millions of people to hazardous pollution levels, causing emergency room visits to spike, and potentially thousands of deaths among the elderly and infirm.
