Emergency Evacuations Ordered In Napa County After Wildfire Erupts Near St. Helena

Another wildfire in Northern California is causing alarm as it continues to rapidly spread through the area, forcing emergency evacuations.

The Glass Fire, as its being called, was first reported at 3:50 a.m. Sunday, according to San Francisco CBS affiliate station KPIX. However, since then, it has grown to more than 800 acres. The fire is being fueled by dry vegetation on the rural hillsides of the area following weeks of high temperatures and low humidity, and a cause has not yet been determined.

As the fire quickly spread, mandatory evacuation orders were issued for residents living in the community of Deer Park, beginning at 4:15 a.m. At the time, the areas that were under evacuation orders included all of Crystal Springs Road and North Fork Crystal Springs road, as well as an area of Silverado Trail that cross between Larkmead Lane and Deer Park Road.

By 7 a.m, Napa County officials extended those orders to include residents living on College Avenue at Howell Mountain Road to White Cottage Road and all of Freisen Drive, as well as all roads west of College Avenue and Friesen Drive and all of Lommel Road.

The St. Helena Hospital in St. Helena is also being evacuated.

The entire area is reportedly under a red flag fire warning with weather conditions that are favorable to spread and make the blaze even more dangerous—including gusty winds, warm morning temperatures and low humidity.

The area is also the home to dozens of wineries as well.

Northern California in particular has been slaughtered by the ongoing fires in recent months, with some of the worst active blazes of the season burning through acres of land in Napa, Sonoma and Solano counties, and even affecting the Bay Area earlier this month, with the sky in the city turning orange as a result of what was going on.

Cal Fire reports that the Glass Fire is still at zero percent containment.

Among the other fires currently burning in the region are the August Complex Fire (which has burned 873,081 acres since breaking out in mid-August and is 43% contained), the North Complex Fire (which has burned 304,881 acres since mid-August and is 78% contained), the Creek Fire (which has burned 292,830 acres since early September and is 39% contained) and the SQF Fire (which has burned 149,888 acres since August and is 47% contained). The SCU Lightning Complex Fire and the LNU Lightning Complex Fire, which have burned a combined 759,844 acres, are both at 98% containment.

Altogether, the fires have burned over 2 million acres of land.