Over 90,000 people have been forced to leave their homes in Sonoma County as the Kincade Fire grows, making it the largest evacuation in the county’s history. NBC Bay Area’s team of reporters bring updates.
Firefighters continue to battle a destructive wildfire that has leveled dozens of homes and charred tens of thousands of acres in Northern California's wine country, forcing the largest evacuation in Sonoma County history.
Click here to view live map of evacuation areas
The Kincade Fire in northern Sonoma County has scorched at least 30,000 acres, destroyed 79 structures, including at least 31 homes, and triggered evacuation orders across the region. The blaze is 10% contained and is threatening more than 31,000 structures, Cal Fire said Sunday.
All 10 zones in the Kincade Fire are now under immediate mandatory evacuation orders. Zone one is Geyserville; zone two is Knights Valley; zone three is Healdsburg and Windsor; zone four is Dry Creek Valley; zone five is Mark West, Larkfield and Wikiup; zone six is northeast Santa Rosa including Fountaingrove, Oakmont and Rincon Valley; zone seven is Forestville, Guerneville, Duncans Mills, Jenner, Bodega Bay and Occidental; zone eight is Sebastopol and Valley Ford; zone nine is Coffey Park and Santa Rosa north of Guerneville Road and Steele Lane; zone 10 is west of Stony Point Road between Guerneville Road and Ludwig Avenue. Officials have confirmed that anyone in these areas needs to leave immediately.
Several lanes on Highway 101 were shut down early Sunday in the area of Santa Rosa. Lanes have since reopened.
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As of 4:30 a.m., mandatory evacuations are ordered for zones six, eight and nine of the Kincade Fire. These areas include Calistoga and Petrified Forest Roads to the Sonoma and Napa County lines; west of Fulton, Graton South to Hessel.
According to Cal Fire, parts of the city of Santa Rosa are under mandatory evacuation, including all areas east of the western city limit, north of Guerneville Road, Steel Lane, Lewis Road and Chanate Road to Montecito Avenue to Montecito Blvd. to Calistoga Road, north to the Santa Rosa city limit. Cal Fire lists this as zone nine.
But according to the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office, areas of zone six, also in Santa Rosa, are not under mandatory evacuation. These areas include Oakmont, Fountaingrove and Rincon Valley and were previously reported as under evacuation order. Other parts of zone six are still under mandatory evacuation. Sheriff's officials said that the parts of zone six that are being evacuated are in unincorporated Sonoma County, not in the city limits.
Mandatory evacuations are now in effect for the following areas: Sebastopol, Bloomfield and Valley Ford. Mandatory evacuations are also ordered in the areas west of Fulton Road in Fulton and west of Llano Road and Pepper Road up to the Marin County line.
An alert from the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office at 3:31 a.m. Sunday said that heavy smoke and strong winds have been reported in the Windsor area. Anyone remaining in Windsor needs to evacuate immediately.
The city of Windsor will be moving its Emergency Operations Center to Sonoma County Administration Center.
An alert posted by the city of Healdsburg at 3:18 a.m. said the fire activity in the area has significantly increased and the fire is heading in that direction. Healdsburg is under mandatory evacuation and anyone in the area needs to leave immediately.
Just after 3 a.m. a structure was reportedly on fire at Soda Rock Winery on Hwy. 128, according to Kent Porter of the Press Democrat, who is on the scene.
As of 8:30 p.m. Saturday: additional evacuation warnings have been issued for zone nine of the Kincade Fire, which includes all areas east of the western Santa Rosa city limit, north of Guerneville Road, Steele Lane, Lewis Road and Chanate Road to Montecito Avenue to Montecito Blvd. to Calistoga Road, north to the Santa Rosa city limit.
As of about 8 p.m. Saturday: officials have confirmed that Sutter Hospital in Santa Rosa is under evacuation orders and patients are being transported.
Fire officials have confirmed as of 6:24 p.m. Saturday that all areas previously under evacuation warning are now under mandatory evacuation. These include Dry Creek Valley, Larkfield and Mark West Drainage and all areas West of Healdsburg and Windsor throughout the Russian River Valley to Bodega Bay.
Sonoma County Sheriff Mark Essick and other officials late Saturday emphasized that evacuation orders need to be taken seriously. "You cannot fight this fire," Essick said.
Essick also asked residents who have knowledge of neighbors who may need extra help evacuating to check on them.
Officials said the evacuation orders are the largest in Sonoma County in at least 25 years. Evacuation centers are located at the Santa Rosa Vets Hall, the Petaluma Fairgrounds, and the Petaluma Vets Hall.
Other evacuation orders that have been issued in Sonoma County: Ida Clayton Road, North to Highland Ranch Road at Campbell Road, East of Hwy. 101 between Asti Road and Alexander Valley Road to the Mendocino and Lake County Lines, including Lakeview Road and extending South along the Lake and Sonoma County Like to Ida Clayton Road. These evacuation orders include residents on Ida Clayton Road.
The Kincade Fire broke out Wednesday night northeast of Geyserville. Flames fanned by roughly 60 mph wind gusts raced toward the town, forcing an evacuation order for the entire community.
PG&E said Thursday it didn't deenergize a 230,000-volt transmission line near Geyserville that it said malfunctioned minutes before the Kincade Fire erupted.
The company filed a report with the state utilities commission saying it found a "broken jumper" wire on a transmission tower around 9:20 p.m. Wednesday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
