Bay Area heat expected to dissipate Sunday; fire danger remains

OAKLAND, Calif. (BCN) - Temperatures above the century mark in many parts of the Bay Area on Saturday afternoon have firefighters braced for action, along with health officials opening cooling centers and imploring people to not leave kids or pets in parked cars.

The National Weather Service said Saturday afternoon that a heat advisory remains in effect until 8 p.m. Saturday for most of the Bay Area (San Francisco and coastal areas excluded) as well as many inland areas of Northern California, including the San Joaquin Valley north of Merced.

In response, various Bay Area cities opened dozens of cooling centers today. Included in that number were San Jose, which had a dozen centers, Pittsburg (five), Santa Rosa (three) and Pleasanton (one).

A red flag warning is in effect through 8 p.m. today. No grass fires had been reported in the Bay Area as of 2 a.m. today, but Cal Fire and local firefighters were battling a 170-plus-acre fire near Red Bluff in 
Tehama County and a 400-plus-acre blaze in Lake County that required mandatory evacuations as of midnight.

Though the red flag fire conditions will persist through the weekend and likely beyond, temperatures are expected to be down today, according to the NWS.