Fire near Patterson is spreading at 120 feet per minute, Cal Fire says
The series of fires that includes the blaze burning in Del Puerto Canyon near Patterson exploded overnight to 137,495 acres, Cal Fire said in a news release Thursday morning.
That’s roughly 215 square miles burning in fires believed to be caused by lightning starting on Sunday night.
The fires are spreading as fast at 120 feet per minute, Cal Fire said in a video update posted on its Twitter feed.
Capt. Stephen Volmer, fire behavioral analyst for Cal Fire, said the fire’s “spotting distance” is up to three-quarters of a mile.
“We’re going to have some of that brush ignite and ... throw fire embers three-quarters of a mile ahead of where the fire (is),” he said. “And when it lands in a receptive fuel bin like the dry grasses and dry brush that’s out there, we’re going to see new fire.”
That is hampering control efforts and helping to spread the fire, Volmer said.
The weather is also complicating matters. Generally, the humidity rises at night, allowing firefighters to make progress.
“On this incident, there’s a little phenomenon that’s happening,” Volmer said. The humidity has been dropping at night, “and that’s allowing the fire to burn all day and all night long.”
The dry grasses are contributing to the fast spread. “That’s putting the fire moving faster than we can actually engage it safely,” he said.
Evacuation center reopens
Two evacuees came to the temporary evacuation center at Creekside Middle School in Patterson around 11 a.m. and left shortly after. Five people staffed the gymnasium, which had social distancing rules posted on the door.
Any evacuees are subject to health screenings before entering, said Christopher Losavio, executive director of the local Red Cross chapter. The organization also helped set up hotel rooms for some evacuees Wednesday night, Losavio said in a text, and may do so again Thursday if there is a need.
On Wednesday, at least five people were injured in the fire and had to be rescued, authorities said.
Smoky air all the way to Modesto
Smoke and ash in the air for miles around led to a health warning from the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District. According to the district’s air monitors, air quality in cities as far away as Modesto, Turlock and Merced remained poor as of midafternoon Thursday.
Stanislaus County Sheriff Jeff Dirkse said that the department’s helicopter was able to fly from the canyon to Frank Raines Park to assess the damage on Wednesday, and found that more than half the buildings, which he described as either houses, hunting shacks or outbuildings, did not have noticeable damage.
He said the helicopter would be back Thursday when deputies could do a more complete search of the canyon. On Friday, they planned to assess damage west of Newman. They could not get to that area on Wednesday because of the fire.
Evacuation areas change
Cal Fire has expanded the evacuation order to include areas in San Joaquin County. Now under mandatory evacuation order is the area south of West Corral Hollow Road to the Stanislaus County line, west of Interstate 580 to the Alameda County line and east of Alameda County line to I-580 and Stanislaus County.
An evacuation warning has been issued for the area of San Joaquin County north of West Corral Hollow Road to I-580 and east of the Alameda County line to I-580, and the PAR Country Estates neighborhood near Tracy.
At 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Cal Fire lifted the mandatory evacuation order for the Diablo Grande community, though the area remains under an evacuation warning.
This story was originally published August 20, 2020 at 9:57 AM.
