Firefighters make gains over 1,500-acre blaze in The Geysers

Firefighters doubled their containment lines around a wildfire burning in The Geysers in southeast Sonoma County from 10 to 20 percent, stalling any growth of the 1,500-acre fire, officials said Monday morning.

Cal Fire Division Chief Mike Wilson said they were facing another hot and dry day of firefighting, with temperatures predicted in the 90s, but they were not predicting the same strong and erratic winds that fueled the fire’s first 12 hours. Helicopters and air tankers were returning to the Mayacamas Mountains east of Geyserville Monday morning to help hundreds of firefighters on the ground.

“They made good progress last night,” Wilson said. “Today we have another day of hot temperatures, but hopefully the winds aren’t quite as erratic as they were.”

Called the Sawmill fire, the blaze started just before 11 a.m. Sunday off Geysers and Geysers Resorts roads in an area controlled by Calpine, a geothermal energy company that runs 14 power plants in the remote mountainous area about 10 miles east of Cloverdale.

Cal Fire officials have not said what caused the fire.

Fire and Sonoma County sheriff’s personnel evacuated about 36 residences along Geysers Road, Pocket Ranch Road and Monkey Rock Road, although some were vacation homes and hunting cabins. Wilson said they’re not aware of any structures burned.

Wilson said no one used an evacuation center established at a Lutheran church in Healdsburg and so it had been closed.

Geysers Road at River and Red Winery roads remained closed.

The overnight progress was in large part because the current fire burned into areas that burned just three years ago in November 2013 during the 3,500-acre McCabe fire, Wilson said. The grasses and vegetation that had grown back were less dense than areas that hadn’t burned.

“A lot of the containment lines we used during McCabe fire were able to be reopened,” Wilson said.

With 473 fire personnel on the ground by late Sunday, Wilson said he expected the number of people to grow throughout the day.

Check back for updates.

You can reach Staff Writer Julie Johnson at 521-5220 or julie.johnson@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @jjpressdem.