SANTA ROSA, Calif. _ Helped by light winds and lower temperatures, firefighters made significant progress overnight and early Sunday morning on two of the biggest wildfires raging across Northern California, but officials cautioned that they still face major challenges.
The winds that bedeviled firefighters Saturday were expected to remain mostly calm Sunday, allowing them to go back on the offense after a day of new evacuations. Humidity levels are also forecast to increase up above 20 percent, with temperatures expected to hit a high of 85 in Santa Rosa.
Officials said Sunday that they are making good progress on the big Tubbs and Atlas fires, which were both more than 50 percent contained. Firefighters will concentrate their forces on the Nuns fire, which was 30 percent contained. There is some concern, however, that the Tubbs and Nuns fires could merge.
The Atlas fire, which has burned more than 51,000 acres in mountain areas east of Santa Rosa, was 56 percent contained, fire officials said.
"Most of the fire is pretty much blacked out," Battalion Chief Chris Waters told crews Sunday morning as they prepared to head into the wilderness. "It was a really good night."
More than a dozen fixed-wing aircraft focused on the Atlas fire can now be diverted to the 47,000-acre Nuns fire, which continues to threaten communities on its eastern and western flanks, officials said. The fire is burning southeast of Santa Rosa.
Over the next few days, weather is expected to improve significantly, said Charles Bell, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. Winds from the southwest could bring lower temperatures and more moisture.
There is a 70 percent chance of rain forecast for Santa Rosa Thursday evening, with relative humidity in the area expected to increase to more than 90 percent ahead of the rain system, Bell said.
"It will bring more moist air, which is extremely beneficial for the firefighters," he said. "It's a big change that's going to happen."
The fires are among a series of blazes burning across Northern California that have scorched more than 220,00 acres since they began last Sunday. As many as 10,000 firefighters from throughout California and surrounding states have battled the fires around the clock.
The death toll from the fires has now hit 40, but officials believe that number will rise as searchers make their way through the neighborhoods in Santa Rosa that burned down, and mountain communities across wine country.
