UPDATE: Mandatory evacuations in east Sonoma; death toll rises to 29
Here is the latest news on the fires in Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino and Napa counties and the rest of the North Coast.
3:15 p.m.
The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office is using Senga, a 3-year-old boxer from the Alameda County Search and Rescue Team, as well as two other cadaver dogs as it searches for victims.
2:20 p.m.
The death toll has climbed to 29 people, with 15 of them from Sonoma County.
Firefighters Thursday afternoon battled flare-ups in multiple areas, including in Lake County where flames had crossed Highway 29 and were burning on Mount St. Helena.
Just north of Sonoma firefighters also were fighting an active fire, working to keep the blaze from reaching the town. Northern areas of Sonom are under mandatory evacuations. The town is under an advisory evacuation.
Some of the increased activity is from the lifting of the thick smoke blanket, allowing the breeze to pickup.
The Tubbs fire, which started near Calistoga before racing into Santa Rosa, also spread north and Wednesday night climbed to the top of Mount St. Helena, officials said. Thursday, firefighters were trying to keep it at bay, battling on the steep mountain.
Bert Bertelli, division chief for Cal Fire in Lake County, said firefighters had worked to open historical fire roads and old dozer lines used in prior fires to help them work the fire.
“We’ve got a plan in place and we’re aggressively shifting resources to address that,” Bertelli said.
The juggle for fire officials was in leaving enough resources to protect nearby Calistoga but get more equipment to the Highway 29 feet.
Several strike teams of firefighters from throughout Western states arrived Thursday to bolster the effort and relieve many local firefighters who have been on the effort since Sunday.
2:12 p.m.
Santa Rosa Mayor Chris Coursey said at a press conference today 2,834 homes had been destroyed by fire in the city, and the number could grow larger.
2 p.m.
The fire that forced the closure of Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital, also affected a number of Sutter-affiliated medical offices, including Sutter North Bay Health Plaza at 3883 Airway Drive, located in one of the mandatory evacuation zones.
Fire did not destroy the building but maintenance will be required before it reopens. The medical office houses extensive imaging services, urgent care, family medicine and specialty services such as neurology and sports medicine. Sutter’s large medical office building next to the hospital is also closed.
Sutter’s closed medical offices include: 95 Montgomery Drive, Suite 104; 990 Sonoma Ave.; 1210 Sonoma Ave.; 2449 Summerfield Road; 2455 Summerfield Road; 4700 Hoen Ave.; 4702 Hoen Ave.; and 717 Center St., Healdsburg.
Santa Rosa surgery centers are closed.
The Sutter walk-in clinic at Deer Creek Village in Petaluma is open. Sutter officials said Thursday the hospital on Mark West Springs Road is undergoing a massive cleaning “from top to bottom.” After that, the hospital will need to be restocked with medical supplies, new medications and fresh food.
“We need to replace things that have been expired or damaged because of smoke,” said Sutter spokeswoman Lisa Amador. “The fire halted everything … you have to reopen everything from ground up, just like when we opened the hospital when it was new. When we open this hospital it will be safe and ready to go for the community.”
1:50 p.m.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson will meet Friday morning with Sonoma County school officials whose school districts issued emergency closures because of massive wildfires, evacuations and dangerous air quality.
Torlakson will reassure local school officials they can keep receiving state Average Daily Attendance funding when schools close because of an emergency. The California Department of Education can also send truckloads of dry goods and frozen foods to school districts requesting assistance.
1:30 p.m.
Sonoma Plaza smelled strongly of smoke and the entire area was awash with an orange glow from sunlight filtered through smoky skies.
Immediately beyond the evacuation line on East 4th Street, most homes remained intact and residents appeared to have obeyed orders to evacuate. One home had a sprinkler on its roof steadily squirting water in a rotating motion around the house.
At the Ravenswood Winery on Gehricke Road, a “Closed” sign had another message over it written on paper. “Thank you firefighters,” it read.
1:20 p.m.
Sheriff Rob Giordano added one more death to the list of fatalities, now totaling 14, just hours after he’d announced that 13 people had died.
Fire officials throughout the fire region have said they expected the numbers of fatalities to increase, including in Mendocino County.
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