Firefighters on Tuesday continued to attack the Point Fire in Sonoma County, a wildfire that's scorched more than 1,200 acres, destroyed two structures and left at least one firefighter hurt.
Fire retardant drops were a common sight in the skies Monday as crews tried to get their lines around the blaze before it could burn more land and homes in wine country. The blaze was 20% contained as of Tuesday morning.
Cal Fire posted on X on Monday evening that two residential structures were destroyed in the fire.
The retardant drops are just part of a relentless aerial assault that’s been nonstop since the fire started outside Healdsburg Sunday afternoon.
"We are hoping that with this reduction of wind strength today, we’re able to control it a little quicker," Cal Fire spokesperson Mari Ochoa said.
Ochoa said winds did pick up Monday afternoon, and while many homes have good defensible space, some do not, making the firefight more difficult and dangerous.
"There is that zero zone that's recommended – five feet outside of your home to not have trees within that area," Ochoa said. "That would be the defensible space that we’re referring to."
One firefighter had to be airlifted from the front line after suffering a non-life-threatening injury.
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The evacuation order zone in the Dry Creek Valley is dotted with private vineyards, ranches and farms. Some property owners have decided to defy the evacuation order.
"When you have crops, there’s nothing to catch fire," Alex Zabala said.
Zabala said he has a huge defensible space at the vineyard his wife’s family has owned since 1928.
"It’s all green," he said. "There’s some weeds and such, but otherwise there’s no grasses to catch fire. That’s usually how it spreads. Embers come over and they’ll catch a field on fire."
Zabala said he watched the fire take two of his neighbors’ homes overnight.
Cal Fire says the Point Fire isn’t actively threatening any other structures at this time, but there's still a lot of work to do.
“The big thing is when we can get those areas where we might have flare ups, those are the areas of concern just because those increases in fire activity could possibly jump the line, things like that,” Robert Foxworthy of Cal Fire said.
The smoke led to a Spare the Air alert due to unhealthy air quality with the Bay Area Air Quality District also issuing air quality advisory for Tuesday.
Healdsburg residents will have to adjust to the conditions they’ve come to expect this time of year.
“You feel it in your eyes a little bit, always smells like a campfire in the air when you’re walking around but it hasn’t been the worst,”Mike Strykowski of Healdsburg said.
