HEALDSBURG, Calif. _ At dawn, Ron Babbini stood with two friends on the sidewalk in front of his house.
A mandatory evacuation remained in effect and the trio were some of the only civilians left in the wine country town. Streets were littered with branches from the wind that was driving down the foothills and to the south.
In the town square, red umbrellas in front of a cafe had toppled and the only vehicles on the road were neon green fire engines and police SUVs.
Babbini said the night had been mostly calm. But nearby Fitch Mountain had him worried. He stood looking at vast plumes of smoke rising above its slopes. They had not been there yesterday.
"It's actually been worse in the last hour or so with the wind," Babbini said. If the wind blows the flames across Fitch Mountain, Healdsburg will be in danger, he said.
"Right now it seems to be the most scariest," he said.
A few days ago, Healdsburg was a safe space for those trying to flee the Kincade fire. Now, it was under siege by a fire that had burned 30,000 acres and was headed toward the famed wine country town.
Authorities said their priority now was trying to save Healdsburg and Windsor, north of Santa Rosa along the 101. The cities were evacuated Saturday, and on Sunday morning fire officials urged holdouts to leave immediately.
The National Weather Service recorded one gust Sunday morning at 93 mph outside of Healdsburg.
Structures in wine country were burning, including some owned by wineries in the Alexander Valley. The Soda Rock winery along State Highway 128 near Healdsburg was consumed early Sunday morning.
Another wine country town in danger was Geyserville, near where the fire started.
On Sunday morning, Eddie Gravier was waiting at the side of the road with a giant silver fuel truck behind him. An employee of Redwood Coast Fuels, Gravier had been in town all night refueling firetrucks and emergency vehicles as they battled to keep flames from taking over the hills just a short distance away.
"By 4 o'clock, the spot fires started up again and they said, 'Get out of here,'" Gravier said. "I said, 'No problem.'"
Geyserville has so far escaped damage. With the heavy winds blowing south, Healdsburg appeared to be in more in jeopardy.
