Evacuation orders expand in California wildfires: AIR

Evacuation orders in California have widened with residents of Calistoga and Geyserville now under mandatory evacuation orders as multiple wildfires exacerbated by hot, dry, and windy conditions have spread across eight counties of California, according to an Oct. 12 report by catastrophe modelling firm AIR Worldwide.

The wildfires are consuming more than 170,000 acres and destroying more than 3,500 structures. Altogether, 22 fires are currently active. Two of these blazes have reportedly been contained. The California governor has declared an emergency in 9 counties, including Napa, Sonoma and Yuba. Officials have estimated that 50,000 people have evacuated from their homes.

Despite a wet winter, California continues to be impacted by five years of drought conditions. The Northern California Diablo winds—usually spawned as high pressure builds over the West and air flows toward areas of lower pressure along the coast—fanned flames on the ridge tops with gusts as high as 70 mph.

With the fires still far from under control, it is too soon to have an accurate picture of the destruction, but it is clear that there has been a significant loss of property.

The most extensive loss to property appears to have occurred in Santa Rosa. Two hotels and a motel were engulfed by the Tubbs Fire, which also destroyed most of the single-family homes in the neighbourhood called Coffey Park and dozens of mobile homes in Journey’s End Mobile Home Park.

AIR estimates that the average rebuild cost of single-family homes within the perimeter of the Tubbs Fire is about $450,000.

Several wineries have also been impacted. While there will likely be significant damage to plant materials and trellises, the vineyards will also experience other losses related to equipment, irrigation, and waste water treatment systems. It can take up to five years to restore soils to the point where scorched vines can again produce grapes suitable for winemaking. California is the fourth largest wine-producing region in the world with more than 1,200 wineries.

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