October 4, 2020 | 7:35 a.m.
In the eight days the Glass Fire has been burning in the Napa Vally area of northern California it has destroyed 297 residences, 273 commercial structures, and burned 63,885 acres according to CAL FIRE. An additional 18,000 structures are threatened as the portion of the fire east of Highway 128 continues to spread north.
West of Highway 128 the fire has not spread into the footprint of the 2017 Tubbs Fire north of Santa Rosa, but north of Kenwood between Highways 12 and 128 it grew for one to two miles into the Nuns Fire of 2017 but has not moved much in that area in the last three days.
East of Highways 128 and 29, a portion of the Glass Fire reached the LNU Lightning Complex that burned 46,000 acres a few weeks ago, but it is still spreading in an area north of Robert Louis Stevenson State Park, five miles north of Calistoga, and 6 miles south of Middletown. The fire was not very active directly west of Pope Valley Saturday.
Resources assigned to the fire include 23 helicopters, 408 fire engines, 66 dozers, 27 hand crews, and 49 water tenders for a total of 2,773 personnel.
The first part of the video below shows a dozer line or road on the edge of the Glass Fire. Then you will see where red retardant dropped by air tankers has slowed the advance of the fire. When it can be done safely, firefighters on the ground or on dozers will need to construct a bare-earth fireline where the fire has burned into or through the retardant. Aircraft dropping water or retardant do not put out a fire, they can only slow the spread, and only if the wind is not very strong.
AIR OPS: You are looking at today’s retardant lines in Division H, the northern-most portion of the #GlassFire pic.twitter.com/m6F3fBAjwc
— CAL FIRE LNU (@CALFIRELNU) October 4, 2020
