Several fast-moving wildfires – two in Sonoma and the other in Santa Cruz county – have destroyed homes and are currently forcing mandatory evacuations.
In Petaluma Tuesday, September 27, a fast moving vegetation damaged or destroyed 14 homes alongside Highway 101. The fire started around 3:15 p.m. along the eastside of the freeway, south of East Washington Street, closing down northbound lanes of the freeway and forcing evacuations, according to fire officials. The fire may have started from a vehicle on the freeway, igniting dry brush on the shoulder, quickly spreading into a grove of eucalyptus trees and a nearby neighborhood.
The Loma fire is threatening homes in the Santa Cruz mountains west of San Jose, burning nearly 2,000 acres and at least one home. Hundreds of residents are evacuated, and smoke is visible from much of the Bay Area and Marin.
The Sawmill fire near Cloverdale in Sonoma and Lake county grew to 1500 acres after starting Sunday, and forced evacuations and road closures. As of Monday, no homes had been destroyed, however many residents remain evacuated.
Both of these wildfires are burning in vegetation and fuel conditions very similar to those in Marin right now.
