4 Dead as Wildfires Continue to Ravage in Northern California

By Mary Anne R. First Posted: Oct 01, 2020 11:14 PM EDT

As northern California wildfires continue to scorch the area, the death toll has climbed to four on Wednesday.

Firefighters continue to fight the wildfires in that area, as well as wreaking havoc in wine county near San Francisco.

Diminishing winds in northern California helped firefighters make some initial progress on Tuesday against both blazes. The wildfires in the area have burned over 100,000 acres combined since it started on Sunday about 200 miles apart.

Fire crews battling the Zogg Fire in Shasta County and a separate wildfire dubbed as the Glass Fire in Napa and Sonoma counties have scrambled to reinforce their control lines on Wednesday. They also tamp down hotspots while the weather remained in their favor.

But a red-flag warning for increasing wildfire risks was reinstated on Wednesday evening for areas just north of San Francisco Bay, including the world-class wine-growing regions of Napa and Sonoma counties.

Thursday's wind event caused the fire to explode. Strike teams were on the scene trying to put the flames out before they spread into the iconic valley. Once the smoke thinned a bit, helicopters were able to make water drops on the fire.

Reporting an update on the Glass Fire, Bill See, a California Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) commander, said now is the time for the firefighters to buckle down. The Glass Fire stood at just two percent containment on Wednesday.

See noted that they will be diligently trying to secure the back door on this fire. Officials were also on guard for a return of high winds in Shasta County.

Shasta County is closer to the Oregon border, where the Zogg Fire was listed at 26 percent containment as of Thursday evening, according to Cal Fire.

Cal Fire officials said the Zogg Fire has killed at least four people and destroyed nearly 150 structures with some 15,000 structures listed as threatened. Around 2,200 residents were under evacuation orders. The blaze has decimated 55,000 acres in Shasta and Tehama counties as of Thursday.

The Shasta County Sheriff's Office identified two of the victims as 79-year-old Karin King and 52-year-old Kenneth Vossen, both residents of the town of Igo, as per a CBS San Francisco Bay Area report.

The names of the other two victims have not been released. The Shasta County Sheriff said one of the four civilian victims was badly burned and died on Tuesday night.

The four deaths brought to 30 the number of people that died since mid-August in what now ranks as the worst California wildfire season on record in terms of acreage burned.

Napa Valley firefighters focused much of their efforts on the popular resort of Calistoga. It is a town with 5,300 residents and known for its hot springs, mud baths, and wine tasting rooms. The people in that town was ordered to be fully evacuated on Monday.

Meanwhile, the Glass Fire has already decimated 80 homes and 32 other structures, including the mansion-like Chateau Boswell winery and a farmhouse that contains storage, bottling, and fermentation facilities at the Castello di Amorosa winery.

Some 80,000 people have been placed under evacuation orders in Napa and Sonoma counties.

The causes of the Zogg Fire and the Glass Fire are still under investigation. Reports said both were triggered by overgrown thickets of tinder-dry grass scrub in each area.

Wine quality was also reported to be affected by the wildfire smokes. The full impact on the region's wine business is yet to be seen.

However, industry officials noted that some vintners would likely reduce the production of certain wines because of the smoke exposure to grapes.