Dying winds bring relief after weeks of California wildfires

WINDSOR, Calif. — Lynn Darst and her husband were camped out in their motor home on the edge of their seats for four days wondering if their house would survive yet another wildfire menacing Sonoma County.

Flames had come close to their neighborhood of spacious homes surrounded by vineyards two years ago and danger was closing in again.

“We were comfortable, but fearful of what the consequences could be,” Darst said Thursday, the day after finding her home had been spared once again.

Darst was among the nearly 200,000 residents allowed to return home even as the fire burned along with several other blazes in the state. They were the lucky ones — at least 140 homes had been destroyed in the Sonoma fire. The blaze was the largest to burn over a three-week siege of vicious gusts that fanned fast-moving wildfires across California.

The winds subsided in virtually all parts of the state Thursday and forecasters anticipated at least a week of calm weather, though there was no rain in the forecast that would reduce the threat of fall fires.

The most devastating wildfires in California’s history have occurred in the past two years in the fall, fueled by a combination of built-up brush, dry conditions and extreme winds. The anniversary of the deadliest of those — last year’s fire that torched the town of Paradise and killed 85 — is next week.

The state experienced a wet winter with a large snowpack and temperatures and wind speeds didn’t spike simultaneously over the summer, which has led a less destructive fire season overall. Acreage burned this year is down nearly 90% from last year and 80% below the five-year average over the same period, according to figures compiled by the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.