Napa Strike Team firefighters Mike Holmes and Dan Stith cover their eyes from the smoke during a controlled burn on Monday, Sept. 14, 2015, in Adams, Calif.(Photo: Beth Schlanker/The Press Democrat via AP)
MIDDLETOWN, Calif. — Firefighters made slow progress against two fast-moving wildfires in Northern California early Tuesday, although forecasts for rain midweek signaled<span style="color: Red;">*</span>temporary relief in what's become a costly, intense wildfire season.
The Valley Fire that sprawled across three counties, including the wine-country counties of<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Napa and Sonoma, was 62,000 acres and 10% contained, said Cal Fire public information officer Daniel Berlant. While the fire went unchecked across miles of the rolling, drought-parched hillside, any progress was remarkable: as of Monday morning, the third day of the fire, containment had been zero.
Some 1,800 firefighters were battling the Valley Fire, part of a 11,000-person web<span style="color: Red;">*</span>of firefighters at a<span style="color: Red;">*</span>dozen fires statewide. California's extreme drought, the worst on record, has led to rapid escalation in the size and destruction of the state's fires — and the resources used to fight it.
The Valley Fire led to one death, an elderly woman<span style="color: Red;">*</span>with disabilities,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>and inflicted burn injuries on four firefighters.
In and around the hot-springs-resort town of Middletown, Calif., it destroyed at least 400 homes as well as a popular resort. Before the weekend's destructive blazes, Gov. Jerry Brown's administration estimated the cost from this wildfire season topped $212 million.
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The Valley Fire<span style="color: Red;">*</span>did most of its damage in<span style="color: Red;">*</span>eight hours on Saturday, and firefighters are preparing for a monumental battle<span style="color: Red;">*</span>over the next several days,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>fearing it could roar to life again.
Cooler temperatures reduced the fire's intensity Monday, and firefighters hope to significantly increase containment before temperatures rise again this weekend.
"We've got to take advantage right now and get containment built," Berlant said. "We will not really be able to breathe a sigh of relief until we get that containment line in place."
Firefighters typically halt the spread of wildfire by robbing them of fuel, often by digging or cutting a line through vegetation to bare ground with hand tools or bulldozers.
On Monday it<span style="color: Red;">*</span>rained in Sacramento, about 90 miles away, and the National Weather Service forecast intermittent showers for southern Lake County.
Southeast of the state's capital, in the Sierra Nevadas, the Butte Fire in Amador and Calaveras counties burned 71,523 acres — an area twice the size of San Francisco — and was 35% contained.
More than 4,500 firefighters are battling the fire, which has destroyed 81 homes and 51 outbuildings.
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Manny Gomez spent Monday anxiously checking his phone every hour, as he visited clients for his family’s business, Apollo Heating, in San Francisco.
If the winds start blowing south in Calaveras County, his family’s vacation home near Murphys, Calif.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>could be in the path of the Butte County fire.
Gomez, 59, cleared<span style="color: Red;">*</span>brush near the house<span style="color: Red;">*</span>to create a 30-foot “defensible perimeter” around the property over the weekend. “You’ve got to get everything that the fire could catch. Though if the fire’s too high, there’s nothing you can do,” he said.
The fire was burning just two ridges over from their property.
“The whole side of the mountain was lit up with flames and embers. It smelled bad. The smoke was so strong, my eyes hurt, my throat was raw,” he said.
Elizabeth Weise in San Francisco contributed to this report. Follow Trevor Hughes @trevorhughes and Elizabeth Weise @eweise.
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