Above: The map shows the southern end of the County Fire where firefighters are working to keep it from crossing the narrow sections of Lake Berryessa and Highway 128. The red shaded areas represent intense heat observed during a Tuesday night mapping flight.
(Originally published at 8:19 a.m. PDT July 4, 2018)
During the first two days the County Fire 26 miles west of Sacramento burned about 1,000 acres an hour, but that spread has slowed recently as firefighters have has success, but difficult terrain in some areas has presented a challenge. The fire has blackened approximately 82,700 acres.
One of their main priorities is to keep the fire from moving south across Highway 128. The map above shows they have made progress toward that goal. If it spreads across the highway it would threaten many homes in the Allendale and Vacaville area. If it grows around the southern tip of Lake Berryessa it could burn into the footprint of last October’s Atlas Fire, northeast of Napa, where the resistance to suppression would decrease dramatically.