HEALDSBURG, Calif. _ Fifty thousand more Sonoma County residents were ordered to leave their homes Saturday as the Kincade fire grew to 25,000 acres and firefighters struggled to get more control over the blaze before powerful winds kicked up in the afternoon.
At a morning news conference, Sheriff Mark Essick asked residents of Healdsburg and Windsor south of the fire zone "to start evacuating now" and to be out of the area by 4 p.m. Essick urged anyone physically unable to evacuate on their own to call 911 for help.
The sheriff emphasized that it was important for the evacuation to be complete before preventive power outages took effect.
By Saturday night, winds are expected to pick up considerably.
"I wouldn't be surprised if we saw gusts between 80 and 85 mph," National Weather Service meteorologist Drew Peterson said. "Hopefully, (firefighters) can make some progress. We'll most likely see the fire spreading once again."
Cal Fire officials warned residents to heed the evacuation orders.
"If we look at the past three years, all of the large and damaging fires have occurred at this time of the year during an offshore wind event, particularly during red flag warnings," said Jonathan Cox, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. "It has us highly concerned that the vulnerable areas of California could see some explosive fires."
Officials had already expanded evacuation zones to include Gifford Springs, Whispering Pines, Anderson Springs, Adams Springs, Hobergs and Cobb Mountain.
Authorities said a firefighter and two civilians were injured when they were overwhelmed by flames as the firefighter was attempting to evacuate the pair.
"The firefighter was forced to deploy his fire shelter, where he shielded them from fire," Cal Fire said in a statement. After the flames passed, all three were taken to a hospital. None of their injuries were life-threatening, the statement said.
As of Saturday morning, 23,000 structures were still threatened. The fire was 10% contained.
Pacific Gas & Electric Co. said Saturday it planned to cut off power to up to 940,000 customers in Northern California to lower the risk of high winds _ predicted to gust over 70 mph _ knocking down live wires and sparking disastrous fires. The preventive blackouts were expected to begin by early Saturday afternoon.
Residents of Healdsburg and Windsor and surrounding areas were urged to stay with friends or family outside the evacuation zone. Others were encouraged to head down Highway 101 to Petaluma, where shelters were opening at the veterans hall and the fairgrounds. Livestock can be sheltered at the Santa Rosa fairgrounds, officials said.
Dominic Foppoli, mayor of Windsor, urged residents to move quickly.
"Do not take this warning lightly, we need everybody to evacuate.... This is a life-threatening situation and a danger to our entire town," he said.
Fire officials said the evacuation orders could be the largest in the region's history.
"We understand the impact of the evacuations we are about to announce are going to be substantial," Cox said. "We are really prioritizing safety for what is potentially the worst case scenario."
By noon in Windsor, traffic was moving slowly southward on Highway 101, a main evacuation route. Lines of cars snaked around a gas station in the town of 28,000.
Paige Sweet, 22, said she quickly packed up her clothes, keepsakes and her two German shepherds after hearing the evacuation orders.
Standing in her driveway, Sweet said she never expected to be forced to leave.
"I took things just in case we lose our home," she said. "It's definitely nerve-racking if it does come this way. I don't even know what would happen."
The National Weather Service said sustained northwest winds of 40 mph were expected to push the blaze toward Highway 101. Peak winds, with gusts between 60 and 80 mph, were forecast from midnight until sunrise.
Cal Fire said there's high potential for trees and branches to fall across power lines and roads, and for embers to spark new fires.
By 3:30 p.m., Healdsburg was empty. Almost all of its 11,000 residents had heeded the mandatory evacuation that began at 10 a.m., piling into cars that now turned Highway 101 south toward San Francisco into a bottleneck of traffic.
City Councilman Shaun McCaffery said he was in a hardware store when the word came down that everyone had to go. He expected the news, but when dozens of cellphones beeped with urgent alerts at the same time, people were alarmed, he said.
But with memories of the devastating Tubbs fire just two years ago, most were willing to leave.
"There was consternation earlier today. You are going to get some grumblers," said Rhea Borja, spokeswoman for the city of Healdsburg.
But Borja said the city has been working for some time to prepare people for the possibility of a massive departure. Just last weekend, it held a practice drill to get people ready.
Kevin Burke, chief of the Healdsburg Police Department, said his officers had been going door to door all day to confirm that most people were gone. With power scheduled to be cut off within an hour, Burke and his team were patrolling for stragglers.
But not everyone was willing to go.
McCaffery said he was staying. He had been in the hardware store buying sprinklers for his roof, and a 400-pound generator sat in the back of his truck. His family was safe in a hotel in Sebastopol, where the kids were probably in the pool, he said, but he was staying behind in the hopes of protecting his home and the family's three cats _ Butter, Percy, and Inka _ in case the worst happens and the winds brought embers into the wine country town.
Everyone was bracing for Saturday night. Weather forecasters said the Diablo winds are expected to begin in earnest about 8 p.m., blowing embers of the Kincade fire perhaps for miles. When the 4 p.m. bells rang on the local church, there was a little more than a breeze rustling the oaks and evergreens in the town square.
The Kincade fire began Wednesday night and has swept through an area where memories of the Tubbs fire that burned entire neighborhoods to the ground two years ago are still vivid. That 2017 fire burned more than 36,000 acres and claimed 22 lives.
This time around, the community has had more time to prepare, said Sonoma County Supervisor James Gore.
"We are in a position where we are reliving something, but we're ahead of it," Gore said. "It's going to test to our resolve. Everybody in our community needs to get the heck out of the way of the first responders so they can do their job."
Gov. Gavin Newsom was scheduled to be in Napa County on Saturday afternoon to meet with in-home healthcare workers as they prepared for the blackouts, according to his office. The governor was expected to unveil a series of new partnerships and tools the state is deploying to help secure medically vulnerable populations during these events.
On Friday, Newsom said the state secured $75 million for areas affected by power shut-offs, including in Southern California, where the Tick fire has been burning. Half would be allocated to local governments, with the cities of Los Angeles, San Jose, San Diego and Oakland receiving $500,000 each. The money can be used to purchase equipment that would be used to mitigate the effects of shut-offs, such as generators, fuel storage and other backup energy sources.
This week, the state provided additional resources to assist PG&E in inspecting power lines and turning the power back on more quickly, including for aircraft and infrared technology, Newsom said.
