Fueled by hot and dry conditions, the Pickett fire in Napa County grew over the weekend, becoming the largest in the region this year as it spurred evacuations while threatening homes and vineyards.
As of Sunday morning, the fire in the northern part of the county covered 6,803 acres and was 11% contained — up from 7% — according to California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. It broke out Thursday northeast of Calistoga, with some residents around the town of 5,000 under evacuation orders.
The fire “grew by 1,841 acres over the last 24 hours, with much of the activity observed on the eastern edge of the fire where it pushed towards Aetna Springs Road,” Cal Fire said in a Sunday morning post on X. “Crews were successful in holding it inside established control lines there. Fire activity did moderate overnight.”
“To date there has been no confirmation of structures damaged and/or destroyed,” the Cal Fire update said.
During a Saturday evening video update, Cal Fire Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit Operations Chief Jeremy Pierce said that although weather conditions had made it a “challenging day for our firefighters out there on the line” it was one that Cal Fire was prepared for because of predicted weather.
Fire and sheriff’s staff said there were about 1,200 personnel working on operations, with 140 engines, 34 dozers, 20 hand crews, 24 water tenders and 10 helicopters.
Regarding evacuations, Napa County Sheriff Oscar Ortiz said Saturday that many evacuees were in “rural and so sparsely populated” areas and that “we hope to get those folks home as soon as possible.”
The Pickett fire was among several burning in parts of California under a spell of hot and dry summer weather amid warnings of potential for fire outbreaks.
The National Weather Service on Sunday said there were “elevated fire weather conditions through at least Monday for a high potential of plume-dominated fire behavior over the mountains and interior” in California.
It was a downgrade from Saturday when the service had issued a red flag warning for portions of Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.
The Little fire in Kern County, which broke out Friday and was 300 acres by Saturday, was 2,537 acres on Sunday morning with no containment. In Alameda County, the Parks fire was 118 acres and 75% contained.
In Shasta County, the Point fire broke out west of Cottonwood on Saturday night. It was 43 acres as of Sunday morning, with no information from Cal Fire about containment.
The Garnet fire in Fresno County and Look fire in Tulare County were also reported Sunday. No information from Cal Fire was available about the size or containment of each.
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