Flames have burned 16,000 acres in northern Sonoma County since Wednesday night after the Kincade Fire broke out northeast of Geyserville, Cal Fire officials said.
The fire started Wednesday at 9:27 p.m. at Kincade Road and Burned Mountain Road, according to Cal Fire.
No one has been injured but 49 structures have been destroyed. The fire is 5 percent contained, which is about 800 acres.
Cal Fire officials said wind has been driving the fire in the area of The Geysers geothermal activity.
Two thousand people have been evacuated. Firefighters will be working overnight to set up containment lines and extinguish the fire.
Evacuations have been ordered for the city of Geyserville, Geysers Road, Red Winery Road, Alexander Mountain Road, Pine Flat Road and all roads east of state Highway 128 to Geyserville.
All roads east of state Highway 101 in the Geyserville area are closed.
My thoughts and Prayers are with everyone involved
Was the fire started by downed power lines?
‘ California wildfire erupted just minutes after a high-voltage power line broke as 50mph winds fan the flames forcing further evacuations, burning more homes and leaving huge swathes of the state without electricity ‘
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7613723/California-wildfire-erupted-minutes-high-voltage-power-line-broke-50mph-winds-fan-flames.html
Hope some elected representative or Court finds out if maintenance changed in last two decades.
It was inspected in 2019.
PG&E stock down to $5.40.
They can’t even maintain bare wires and poles/towers…..
PG&E just admitted that their 230,000 kilo-watt dropped to the ground a few minutes before the Kincade fire started.
PG&E’s stocked dropped to $5 per share this morning.
PG&E said the fire may have been caused by a broken jumper cable on a transmission tower. As I recall, during the last power shut down PG&E said they were going to inspect every inch of lines before restoring power. How did they miss this one broken jumper cable?
If it was indeed inspected during normal conditions, a problem might not be detected because the jumper cable was likely intact before the windstorm. Over its life the metal moves due to vibrations caused by heat/cold and wind. Over time the metal fatigues (becomes brittle) and may weaken or break when subjected to motion. One permanent solution would be to systematically replace moving parts when approaching the end of their service life. Expect a bill in your mailbox.
The weather has changed considerably these last few years. Northern Calif. has always had mild offshore winds in the Fall, not the gales we see today.. Remember the smoke in the Valley due to the burning of rice stubble and prunings? The winds became stronger with the passage of a cold front which also brought rain. Remember the tule fog here in Claycord that usually began in mid October, and sometimes stayed for days?
I read PG&E does not deenergize its high voltage lines (132kV and higher) because those structures “do well in high winds”. I fear they will rethink that strategy and black out all of Northern California! We need legal action by our lawmakers to force this criminal enterprise to spend its own money (not rate payers’) to ensure its entire transmission and distribution system is safe in the highest winds. We’ve already paid for such safety measures; we shouldn’t have to pay again.
A bolted connection also called a termination that becomes loose will develop resistance thus generating heat. Routinely use hand held thermal imaging color camera as diagnostic troubleshooting tool. When we see elevated heat at a connection point it is noted and given attention during our weekly down turns.
Technology is not new, years back picked up a color FLIR ONE which mates to an old iPhone 5. Makes for a very useful pocket sized tool for work and home. FLIR has improved units for newer phones.
Helicopter mounted thermal imaging is not new.
Example from UK, white spots are hot in black n white video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBaiRvyPRg8
Color video of thermal imaging,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwdkQSFw180
Wondering if thermal imaging was done on lines in area of Kincaid fire, how long ago and what sis they find ?
That line has been inspected 4 times in the past 2 years. Both energized thermal inspections and de=energized up close physical inspections