California Fires Live Updates: Vacaville wildfire destroys Houses, evacuations Expanded into Fairfield
Thousands of homes in Vacaville and Fairfield are at risk after the LNU Lightning Sophisticated fire exploded overnight and turned toward Solano County.
Update: Wednesday evening, Napa County and Solano County joined the rest of the Bay Area in ordering residents to keep in their homes as much as possible.
CHP shut both directions of Interstate 80 soon after 4 p.m., involving Air Base Parkway and Cherry Glen Road in Fairfield, as the fire storms throughout the area. The fire jumped the freeway into the Paradise Valley neighborhood, which is now under an evacuation order. I-80 was reopened in the two instructions soon before 9 p.m.
The flame, which originally started near Hennessy Ridge Road in Napa and immediately spread into the Lake Berryessa area, suddenly blew into Vacaville about 1 a.m. Wednesday as high winds gusted. Some residents were awoken in the middle of the night and forced to flee.
"It is quite rare that we see the kind of fire behaviour I watched last night," Vacaville Fire Chief Kris Concepcion stated in a meeting with ABC7.
"I watched a wall of flames about 40 ft high just traveling to the city very fast," he added.
Evacuations have been ordered in Vacaville for many residents of Pleasants Valley Road and the English Hills area as flames raced across roadways. In 4:30 p.m., Vacaville ordered all inhabitants south of Alamo from I-80 to the Putah Creek Canal to flee. Homes across Peabody Road and Foxboro Parkway near the California Medical Facility are also being evacuated.
Video and photos of this English Hills area show some houses are destroyed. The proprietors of Yin Ranch, an occasion and wedding place on Pleasants Valley Road, affirmed it is at least partly destroyed.
Components of it seems like Paradise, such as the Camp Fire," Don Ryan, manager of the Office of Emergency Services, told the Daily Republic. "Plenty of houses are burned down."
At least 50 structures are destroyed by the LNU Lightning Sophisticated. It is not yet known how many of those homes are in Vacaville and the hills around the city. Concepcion said up to 3,000 homes in the city limits were in danger.
The Solano County Sheriff's Department told residents to leave their houses west of Blue Ridge Road to Interstate 505 in Vacaville and north of Cherry Glen Road to Highway 128. All Gibson Canyon Road and Solar Hills must be evacuated, as the flame has entered Gibson Canyon.
As stated by the Vacaville fire map, an evacuation warning -- indicating taxpayers should be ready to leave at a moment's notice -- now extends all the way to the border of the Vacaville Premium Outlets on the east and Interstate 80 to the southwest.
Evacuation orders also have been issued in Suisun Valley and Fairfield. Rancho Solano, Rolling Hills and the Sanctuary area are all ordered to evacuate.
The raging blaze has charred 46,225 acres (or 72 square miles) from Napa to Winters and was zero percent contained, according to Wednesday morning status report by Cal Fire. To put this in perspective, that's a little more than the magnitude of the city of San Francisco.
"Extreme fire behavior with short and long range viewing are continuing to battle firefighting efforts," Cal Fire said. Air support is arriving to perform drops in the area.
There aren't any evacuations for Winters at this moment.
Cal Fire's website has been down intermittently Wednesday, so if you are looking for live updates, we have collected some resources here.
Evacuation facilities have been set up at:
McBride Senior Center, 91 Town Square, Vacaville
Eugene Padan Elementary School, 200 Padan School Road, Vacaville
Sierra Vista K-8 School, 301 Bel Air Drive, Vacaville
Joseph Nelson Community Center, 611 Village Center Drive, Suisun City
Update: Wednesday evening, Napa County and Solano County joined the rest of the Bay Area in ordering residents to keep in their homes as much as possible.
CHP shut both directions of Interstate 80 soon after 4 p.m., involving Air Base Parkway and Cherry Glen Road in Fairfield, as the fire storms throughout the area. The fire jumped the freeway into the Paradise Valley neighborhood, which is now under an evacuation order. I-80 was reopened in the two instructions soon before 9 p.m.
The flame, which originally started near Hennessy Ridge Road in Napa and immediately spread into the Lake Berryessa area, suddenly blew into Vacaville about 1 a.m. Wednesday as high winds gusted. Some residents were awoken in the middle of the night and forced to flee.
"It is quite rare that we see the kind of fire behaviour I watched last night," Vacaville Fire Chief Kris Concepcion stated in a meeting with ABC7.
"I watched a wall of flames about 40 ft high just traveling to the city very fast," he added.
Evacuations have been ordered in Vacaville for many residents of Pleasants Valley Road and the English Hills area as flames raced across roadways. In 4:30 p.m., Vacaville ordered all inhabitants south of Alamo from I-80 to the Putah Creek Canal to flee. Homes across Peabody Road and Foxboro Parkway near the California Medical Facility are also being evacuated.
Video and photos of this English Hills area show some houses are destroyed. The proprietors of Yin Ranch, an occasion and wedding place on Pleasants Valley Road, affirmed it is at least partly destroyed.
Components of it seems like Paradise, such as the Camp Fire," Don Ryan, manager of the Office of Emergency Services, told the Daily Republic. "Plenty of houses are burned down."
At least 50 structures are destroyed by the LNU Lightning Sophisticated. It is not yet known how many of those homes are in Vacaville and the hills around the city. Concepcion said up to 3,000 homes in the city limits were in danger.
The Solano County Sheriff's Department told residents to leave their houses west of Blue Ridge Road to Interstate 505 in Vacaville and north of Cherry Glen Road to Highway 128. All Gibson Canyon Road and Solar Hills must be evacuated, as the flame has entered Gibson Canyon.
As stated by the Vacaville fire map, an evacuation warning -- indicating taxpayers should be ready to leave at a moment's notice -- now extends all the way to the border of the Vacaville Premium Outlets on the east and Interstate 80 to the southwest.
Evacuation orders also have been issued in Suisun Valley and Fairfield. Rancho Solano, Rolling Hills and the Sanctuary area are all ordered to evacuate.
The raging blaze has charred 46,225 acres (or 72 square miles) from Napa to Winters and was zero percent contained, according to Wednesday morning status report by Cal Fire. To put this in perspective, that's a little more than the magnitude of the city of San Francisco.
"Extreme fire behavior with short and long range viewing are continuing to battle firefighting efforts," Cal Fire said. Air support is arriving to perform drops in the area.
There aren't any evacuations for Winters at this moment.
Cal Fire's website has been down intermittently Wednesday, so if you are looking for live updates, we have collected some resources here.
Evacuation facilities have been set up at:
McBride Senior Center, 91 Town Square, Vacaville
Eugene Padan Elementary School, 200 Padan School Road, Vacaville
Sierra Vista K-8 School, 301 Bel Air Drive, Vacaville
Joseph Nelson Community Center, 611 Village Center Drive, Suisun City