Update, 6:50 a.m.: Modesto’s air quality already unhealthy as crews battle SCU, Moc fires
Update, 6:50 a.m.: Air quality off to a poor start on Monday
Unlike Sunday, when some Stanislaus County residents were greeted with a somewhat blue sky in the morning, Monday has gotten off to a bad start in terms of air quality.
The air quality index at 6 a.m. was at 164, in the unhealthful range as fires to the east and west of Modesto continued to burn.
On Sunday, through at least late morning, the AQI was in the 80s, in the moderate range.
The National Weather Service on Thursday issued an Air Quality Alert, that remains in place until crews can get hold of the fires burning in Stanislaus County and elsewhere (the SCU Lightning Complex) and in Tuolumne and Mariposa counties (the Moc Fire). There are other fires throughout Northern California and in the hills east of Fresno.
Temperatures in the mid to high 90s are expected through Friday in the Modesto area.
We should have an update on the fires shortly.
Update, 7:40 p.m.: SCU Lightning fire grows; overnight conditions a concern
In updates Sunday night on various fires, here is the latest:
The SCU Lightning Complex grew to 343,965 acres throughout the day. The LNU Lightning Complex in Sonoma and surrounding counties has grown to 347,630 acres.
Crews are especially worried about the hot, dry and windy conditions facing them into Sunday night and Monday morning. The Red Flag warning has now been extended to 5 p.m. Monday.
CalFire also updated its evacuation warnings to include four spots in Merced County:
- North of Hwy 152 to I-5 to the Santa Clara County Line and Stanislaus County Line
- West of the I-5 excluding the community of Santa Nella
- .East of Santa Clara County Line and Stanislaus County Line to the Delta-Mendota
- South of the Stanislaus County Line to Hwy 152
Meanwhile, the Turlock Fire Department announced they have firefighters at the LNU Lightning Complex, the North Complex in Plumas and the BTU Lightning Complex just south of Chico.
In a set of numbers released by CalFire on Sunday:
- Since Aug. 15, there have more more than 12,000 lightning strikes.
- There have been 615 new wildefires.
- More than 14,000 firefighters are covering 2,400 fire engines, 284 dozers, 327 fire crews, 321 water tenders and 95 aircraft.
- There have been about 60 out of state engines.
- Two dozen wildfires have consumed more than 1.1 million acres.
Update, 5:15 p.m.: CalFire talks at Sunday afternoon press conference
With more adverse weather expected from Sunday night into Monday, officials with CalFire and partner agencies urged residents within the SCU Lightning Complex fires to take evacuation warnings and orders seriously.
“We are hyper-focused with CalFire Team 6 on that structure defense component and evacuations,” Jake Hess, the chief assigned to the Santa Clara Unit, said at a news conference in Alameda County on Sunday afternoon. “So, please, please, look at those evacuation orders or warnings and listen to those. We put those out there for a reason.”
Officials said 1,323 personnel are fighting the SCU Lightning Complex, which now involves San Benito and Merced counties in addition to Stanislaus, San Joaquin, Alameda, Contra Costa and Santa Clara.
Speaking on areas of particular concern, a CalFire chief spoke about the southern piece of the Canyon Fire in and around Del Puerto Canyon. “The fire continues to push down into the (Henry W. Coe ) State Park through wilderness area, and that continues to give us a little challenge,” he said. “We’ve created a number of different contingency lines on both sides of the fire and those contingency lines are usually done with bulldozers that are creating lines the fire can’t burn through.” Those bulldozed lines are augmented with an attack from tankers that lay down retardant lines.
Hess referred to the SCU Lightning Complex battle as a marathon. Getting the fire controlled and extinguished is just the first part. Then will come the “fire suppression repair piece,” he said. The CalFire Santa Clara Unit will be living with this incident for years, he predicted.
Returning to the more immediate future, Hess said the potential lightning to come Sunday night and Monday “has us very white-knuckled right now” and CalFire turning to partner agencies for resources.
Twenty-plus lightning strikes began the fires that merged into the SCU Complex, he said, calling it an “unprecedented event that immediately overwhelmed our resources” and has crews battling 22 fires spread out over the counties.
Update, 2:30 p.m.: SCU Lightning Complex just 10 percent contained
Crews fighting the SCU Lightning Complex fires faced the threats of wind gusts and dry lightning Sunday and into Monday as they worked to improve containment beyond the 10% it’s been for the past few days.
The complex, which includes the Canyon Fire in and around Del Puerto Canyon west of Patterson, had burned 339,968 acres as of the latest update from CalFire on Sunday.
Overnight Saturday, poor humidity and southwest winds “tested containment lines on the north edge of the Calaveras and Canyon zones,” CalFire reported Sunday morning.
A Red Flag warning, signaling the possibility of warm winds and dry lightning, began Sunday at 5 a.m. and was expected to last through Monday afternoon at 5. The period of greatest concern was Sunday evening through Monday morning, CalFire reported.
The weather service’s Sacramento office posted on its Facebook page a gif of a weather prediction model that shows scattered thunderstorms with little to no rainfall are expected to move across Northern California from Sunday evening into Monday.
“Even if the storms miss the complex, gusty outflow winds from nearby cells will be of concern for fire growth and firefighter safety,” according to a CalFire incident update Sunday.
As the agency reported injuries to two firefighters and two civilians, it said “aerial assets” arrived Sunday to assist in perimeter updates and operational decisions on the complex.
There is no prediction on when the fires will be fully contained, CalFire reported.
Diablo Grande Parkway and the Diablo Grande community remained under an evacuation warning.
While there are five known structures that have been destroyed, 20,265 remain threatened.
The SCU Lightning Complex started Aug. 16 with multiple fires. They merged into two major fires and are broken into three zones: Canyon, Calaveras and Deer. The complex is burning in Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa, San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties.
Saturday night, it became the second largest fire by acreage in state history dating back to 1932, but was surpassed overnight by the LNU Lightning Complex in Sonoma and Napa counties, among others. The LNU is now at 341,243 acres. The largest is the Mendocino Complex, which burned 459,123 acres in July of 2018.
Moc Fire containment doubles
Containment of the Moc Fire, burning in parts of Tuolumne and Mariposa counties, has gone from 5% to 10%, CalFire reported Sunday morning. It remains at 2,800 acres.
No structures have been lost or damaged, but 1,500 remain threatened.
CalFire’s update said the fire is active in the Jackass Creek drainage, very rugged terrain and a difficult area for fire personnel to access.
Early Sunday afternoon on its Facebook page, the CalFire Tuolumne Calaveras United posted that the fire poses a significant threat to the Priest Coulterville Road area. It also said it is working with local utility providers to restore power where it does not threaten firefighter safety.
The Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Department, on its Facebook page, wrote that additional resources had arrived or were to arrive Sunday. Because of hot and dry weather conditions, along with possible lightning over the next two days, evacuated areas remain threatened.
There are evacuation areas set up at the Mother Lode and Mariposa fairgrounds.
Air quality warnings issued
Because of fires burning across Northern California, air quality continues to be unhealthy for much of the interior, the National Weather Service is reporting. It urges residents to limit outdoor activities and check on sensitive groups.
A post on the weather service’s Facebook page links to AirNow to check air quality by ZIP code or city. Shortly before noon, AirNow said air quality in Modesto was well within the “moderate” range, but the forecast was for “unhealthy.”
The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District has a valleywide air quality alert in effect because of the wildfires. It warns that particulate matter pollution can trigger asthma attacks, aggravate chronic bronchitis, and increase the risk of heart attack and stroke.
This story was originally published August 23, 2020 at 12:29 PM.
