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PAUL KITAGAKI JR. THE SACRAMENTO BEE
Kim Graves, left, hugs her neighbor Susan Gaynard
after they both lost homes in Santa Rosa.
FIRES ROAR ON
NORTH BAY
17 KILLED 2,000 STRUCTURES DESTROYED TENS OF THOUSANDS EVACUATED
Todd Caughey, foreground, hugs his daughter Ella at their destroyed home in Kenwood. The fires destroyed more than 2,000 structures and threatened many more.
Firestorms: Crews brace for
gusty winds as flames rage
By Katy Murphy, Erin Baldassari
and Patrick May
Bay Area News Group
With heavy winds soon expected to return to
Californias fire-ravaged wine country, firefight-
ers on Tuesday fought to control the firestorms
still raging across swaths of Northern Califor-
nia as police searched for the missing and con-
tinued to evacuate people in danger.
The death toll rose to 17 in Sonoma, Napa,
Mendocino and Yuba counties while officers in
Sonoma County where most of the deaths
occurred searched evacuation centers and
homes for 240 people, finding 57 of them as of
Tuesday afternoon.
Tens of thousands of people remained out of
their homes and more were evacuated Wednes-
day afternoon in northern Sonoma County and
Napa County as the out-of-control firestorms de-
stroyed more than 2,000 structures and threat-
ened many more. And while calmer winds and
higher humidity aided fire-suppression efforts
on Tuesday, the winds are expected to turn gusty
and swing 180 degrees on Wednesday, blowing
from the northwest and challenging the contain-
ment lines that have been secured along the long
southern flanks of the fires, said Neil Lareau of
San Jose State Universitys Department of Me-
teorology and Climate Science.
FIRESTORMS>>PAGE 2
MASS SHOOTING
Vegas police response
time questioned
A revised timeline given by in-
vestigators for the Las Vegas
massacre raises questions
about communication. PAGE A10
INDEX Obituaries...... A10 Opinion............ A11
marinij.com
NHAT V. MEYER BAY AREA NEWS GROUP BEN MARGOT THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
A burned American flag on a flagpole near Parker Leslie Garnica, 17, cries while recalling the fire
Hill Road in Santa Rosa on Tuesday. which destroyed her Santa Rosa family home.
JEFF CHIU THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Health: Marin has worst air Mill Valley: Fire chief who lost
quality in nation from smoke Santa Rosa home hailed as hero
By Mark Prado By Adrian Rodriguez
mprado@marinij.com arodriguez@marinij.com
@MarkPradoIJ on Twitter @adrianrrodri on Twitter
For a period Tuesday, San Rafael had the worst W hen a w ildfire ripped
air quality in the nation, according to the U.S. through Santa Rosa early Mon-
Environmental Protection Agency, as fires in So- day, Tom Welch made sure his
noma and Napa counties poured a blanket of family and neighbors were safe
smoke into Marin. before dashing back home to
An air quality index reading in San Rafael see if there was any chance of
registered at 256 in the early afternoon, which defending his house from the
was listed as worst in the nation at the EPA flames.
website airnow.gov. That put San Rafaels air in It was about getting people Welch
the very unhealthy category. A healthy read- out of there, Welch said Tues-
ing is less than 100. The reading reflects a mea- day from Chico, where he and his
sure of the particulate matter or soot in the air. family were staying with in-laws. The fire was
At the same time, Vacaville had a 239 reading; moving, and we went house to house, kicking in
Fairfield, 238; Santa Rosa, 201; and Mendocino doors to get people out.
County, 171. San Rafael was consistently in the Welch, who is chief of the Mill Valley Fire
top five list through most of the day, only drop- Department, lost his home that morning af-
ping off after 5 p.m. ter hours of search-and-rescue and battling the
The air quality index is an EPA color-coded blaze. But alongside Santa Rosa and Windsor
tool for communicating air quality to the public. firefighters, they were able to save about eight
At around the same time San Rafael topped homes in the Coffey Park neighborhood.
the list, the Bay Area Air Quality Management Welch said it was about 1 a.m. when he was on
District issued a health advisory and a Spare the a conference call with Marin County fire Chief
Air alert for the entire Bay Area. Jason Weber and others deciding how many fire-
Very unhealthy air quality from the wildfires fighters and other resources each Marin depart-
in the North Bay is causing unprecedented lev- ment could spare to join the fight against the
els of air pollution throughout the Bay Area, the North Bay fires.
SMOKE PAGE 6 CHIEF PAGE 4
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