1 dead, at least 400 homes destroyed as Valley Fire grows to 61,000 acres

MIDDLETOWN, Calif. (AP) — Cal Fire says the Valley Fire has grown to 61,000 acres and is now 5 percent contained as of Monday morning. 

A Cal Fire Battalion Chief says the fire has "laid down" overnight and is not burning Monday morning at quite the rate it was the last several days. 

Authorities say the Valley Fire has killed at least one person and destroyed at least 1,000 structures. At least 400 of those structures are homes. At least two apartment buildings and 10 businesses were also destroyed.  

Cal Fire says about 6,000 homes remain in the path of the fire. 

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection confirmed one fatality in the Valley Fire. 

There were also reports that some 27 people have sustained injuries as a result of the fire, but Cal Fire could not confirm those numbers.

The Valley Fire is being called California's worst wildfire of the season. 

Residents fled from Middletown, dodging smoldering telephone poles, downed power lines and fallen trees as they drove through billowing smoke.

Whole blocks of homes were burned in parts of the town of more than 1,000 residents that lies about 20 miles north of the famed Napa Valley.

On the west side of town, house after house was burned to their foundations, with only charred appliances and twisted metal garage doors still recognizable.

• LIST: Evacuations, school closures and road closures 
• How to help Valley Fire victims
• If you are a fire victim and need help

On Sunday night, the Lake County Office of Education announced that all Lake County public schools will be closed on Monday, September 14.

"The safety of students, families, teachers and staff is our top priority," the announcement read. "The Lake County Office of Education encourages all residents to follow the recommended evacuations and be mindful of safety."

Napa County opened its emergency operations center Sunday and some people who had to flee the fire are staying at the Napa County Fairgrounds in Calistoga, county officials said.

Advisory evacuations were ordered by Cal Fire for Pine Flat Road at addresses 5000 and above as well as Geysers Road both out of Healdsburg (addresses 6000 and above) and Geyserville (addresses 9400 and above).

Advisory evacuations notify residents that existing conditions dictate that a mandatory evacuation order may be given in the near future, but that the threat to lives is not yet imminent.

Firefighters on Sunday afternoon could be seen driving around flaming utility poles to put out spot fires. Homeowner Justin Galvin, 33, himself a firefighter, stood alone at his house, poking its shin-high, smoking ruins with a piece of scrap metal.

"This is my home. Or it was," said Galvin, who spent all night fighting another fire in Amador County.

California Department of Forest Protection spokesman Daniel Berlant says wind gusts that reached up to 30 miles per hour sent embers raining down on homes and made it hard for firefighters to stop the Valley Fire from advancing. Four firefighters were injured Saturday while battling the flames.

"This has been a tragic reminder to us of the dangers this drought is posing," he said.

At least 10,000 residents in the area have been evacuated. “My dad worked hard for us to have that house and it’s sad that all those memories are gone… we lost everything,” said evacuee Roberto Vazquez.

Cal OES spokesman Brad Alexander said another request for federal help is always on the table. He said right now state officials are focusing on protecting lives and property.

He said state officials are in touch regularly with federal officials in Washington, D.C.

Mandatory evacuations are in effect in parts of Napa County, including Summit Lake Drive, Ink Grade Road, and Howell Mountain Road North beginning at White Cottage Road to Pope Valley, county officials said.

American Red Cross officials have set up a shelter at the Calistoga Fairgrounds and the officials are asking people to make donations to fire survivors at redcross.org.

County officials said people are scamming survivors through social media by asking evacuees' for their addresses. The scammers say they are part of a news crew covering the fire and will check on the evacuee's home, county officials said.

Burglars use the ploy to steal things, according to county officials.

Sheriff's deputies are patrolling evacuated areas and advise evacuees to avoid giving out their addresses online.

It will be about two days before evacuees can return home, according to CHP officials.

Whole blocks of houses burned in parts of Middletown, where firefighters were driving around guardrails and flaming utility poles to put out spot fires Sunday afternoon.

On the west side of town, house after house was burned to their foundations, with only charred appliances and twisted metal garage doors still recognizable.

George Escalona told The Associated Press that parts of his town, including his home, have burned to the ground.

In some areas of town "there is nothing but burned houses, burned cars," Escalona said, adding that he has nothing left but the clothes he was wearing.

The 60-square-mile fire erupted Saturday afternoon and rapidly chewed through brush and trees parched from several years of drought, Cal Fire said. Entire towns as well as residents along a 35-mile stretch of highway were evacuated. Gov. Jerry Brown on Sunday declared a state of emergency to free up resources.

The governor has also called up the California National Guard as part of the state of emergency and requested money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, state officials said.

Napa County officials have opened an emergency operations center to help with the response to the Valley Fire, county officials said.

Money from FEMA will come through a Fire Management Assistance Grant to reimburse the state for up to 75 percent of eligible expenses used to extinguish the fire, FEMA officials said.

FEMA officials have also sent two response division liaison officers to the California Office of Emergency Services in Sacramento, according to the agency. The liaisons will stay abreast of the fire and report to FEMA leaders, FEMA spokesman John Hamill said Sunday.

Hamill said the fire could prompt a greater federal response, if the fire exhausts state resources. "There could be a capacity issue," he said.

To his knowledge Gov. Brown has not asked for a presidential disaster declaration, which would give California more federal resources.

The four firefighters who were injured were all members of a helicopter crew. They were airlifted to a hospital burn unit, where they were being treated for second-degree burns and were listed in stable condition, Berlant said.

Brown had already declared a state of emergency for the separate 101-square-mile wildfire about 70 miles southeast of Sacramento that has destroyed at least 81 homes and 51 outbuildings and turned the grassy, tree-studded Sierra Nevada foothills an eerie white. Fire officials had earlier counted 86 homes destroyed, but issued the new figure Sunday morning.

Crews by Sunday morning had increased containment on that blaze to 20 percent.

The fire, which broke out on Wednesday was threatening about 6,400 more buildings.

"I lost my business — it's all burned up — my shop, my house, 28 years of living," said Joe Thomas, who lives near the community of Mountain Ranch. "I got to start all over. It's depressing."

Thomas, who runs a tractor dealership and repair business, said he and his wife grabbed papers, his work computer, photos and their four dogs. But they left a goat, five ducks, six rabbits and more than 30 chickens behind.

"I turned the pens open and turned them lose. I just couldn't gather them up," he said. "All we want to do is go home. It's miserable."