Firefighters take advantage of cooler weather to attack big Northern California blazes

Though major fires continue burning in the northern part of the state, Bay Area residents can expect a several-day stretch of cooler than normal temperatures, as well as hazier skies as smoke is carried aloft through the region, the National Weather Service said Monday.

The week began with slightly warmer than normal temperatures, clear and mostly sunny skies and air quality readings in the good to moderate ranges, but that should change by midweek, meteorologist Brayden Murdock said.

From Wednesday, temperatures will trend lower, leading even interior Bay Area cities like Concord and Livermore to struggle toward daily highs in the low 80s.

Although at least one forecast model hinted at the possibility of late-week precipitation, Murdock said cooler North Pacific Ocean conditions and a once-promising low-pressure system didn’t appear to hold (much) water, other than chances of light North Bay drizzle Saturday morning.

“In the next few days, northerly winds will start pushing smoke into the area” leading to haze visible from ground level to a few thousand feet, with smoke’s strongest sources likely to be the Monument and McCash fires in Trinity and Siskiyou counties, Murdock said. Federal firefighting resources were tackling those blazes, with the Monument Fire estimated at 212,517 acres and 43% containment and the McCash Fire at 74,076 acres with only 11% containment.

Elsewhere, conditions on the ground continued to challenge thousands of firefighters tackling the state’s unprecedented fire season. Red-flag warnings were issued for northeastern Siskiyou, eastern Del Norte and northeastern Humboldt counties through Tuesday morning due to forecasts calling for low humidities, gusting winds and above-normal temperatures.

California’s two biggest wildfires continued their spread, with the Dixie Fire burning 960,335 acres but reaching 75% containment late Monday morning, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The Caldor Fire had burned 219,267 acres and was 67% contained.

According to Cal Fire, twenty-seven new fires began on Sunday alone, including the Hopkins Fire in southern Mendocino County. Cal Fire officials estimated its size early Monday at 257 acres and 20% containment. Cal Fire resources were at 95% containment for the Bridge Fire, which burned 411 acres since its Sept. 5 start in northwest Placer County near the Foresthill Bridge in Auburn.

In a midday update, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks officials said the dry-lightning-sparked Paradise and Colony fires, collectively known as the KNP Complex, were still growing in Tulare County at 807 and 230 acres, with zero containment and smoky conditions limiting recent size-update attempts, as well as mandatory evacuations for the Mineral King area and warnings for parts of Three Rivers.

Since the year began, Cal Fire resources have logged more than 7,400 fires burning more than 2.25 million acres, compared to last year’s total 8,092 fires and 3.38 million acres.

Contact George Kelly at 408-859-5180.