SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A wildfire in rural Northern California’s Napa County damaged two homes and forced
the evacuation of 200 others, but so far is not posing a to the vineyards that are the region’s claim to
fame.
The fire in Pope Valley grew to nearly six square miles Wednesday, a day after it broke out, said Daniel
Berlant, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
It damaged nine structures including two homes and threatened hundreds more, officials said. But it was
burning to the north of the county’s famous vineyards.
“It has not come anywhere close to what we consider Napa Valley wineries,” said Cate Conniff, a
spokeswoman for the Napa Valley Vintners, a nonprofit trade association. “It is moving in the opposite
direction, and it continues to move that way. We’re keeping an eye out on it.”
More than 1,000 firefighters were hoping to get a better handle on the blaze after they made progress
overnight Tuesday, Berlant said. But fire activity increased about noon Wednesday as temperatures again
soared into the 90s and the blaze continued burning northeast into neighboring Lake County. The blaze is
30 percent contained, officials said.
“We’re hoping that once the sun goes down, the temperature will as well and the humidity will also rise
to give us another chance to increase containment,” Berlant said.
Crews have requested more bulldozers from across the state to assist the dozen on site in strengthening
containment lines, Berlant said.
No injuries have been reported, and the cause of the fire remains unknown.
The fast-moving blaze began Tuesday afternoon in Napa County. Within hours, it covered 600 acres and then
spiked to 2,700 acres by late evening as it spread northeast. State firefighters and crews from Napa,
Lake and Solano counties spent a second day working in 90-degree weather on Wednesday.
Similar high temperatures were expected again on Thursday. The fire exploded because of dry conditions
across the state, Berlant said.
The fire is not affecting the lucrative Napa Valley vineyards nearby, fire officials said. Pope Valley is
about 20 miles north of Napa Valley.
Gov. Jerry Brown said Wednesday that he has secured federal funds to help fire departments absorb some of
the cost of fighting the fire.
Elsewhere in California, firefighters were surrounding a blaze in Shasta-Trinity National Forest that
forced the evacuation of about 15 homes. Forest spokeswoman Andrea Capps said the fire has burned
through 35 acres since it started Tuesday and was 70 percent contained.