Burning more than 5,000 acres of land within three hours, the Kincade Fire of Sonoma County ignited at around 9:00 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 23. To put it into perspective, the fire burned the acreage of a football field every three seconds, as stated by CNN meteorologist Brandon Miller. 76-mph winds spread the fire from its original location, causing the River Rock Casino as well as the entirety of Geyserville to be evacuated. The fire had burned through 10,000 acres by Thursday morning.

The fire was fueled by high winds, which prompted PG&E as well as many other electrical companies to cut power to thousands of residents. Cal Fire Incident Commander Mike Parkes told CNN “we expect the fire to grow… [Because of the] rugged terrain, the rapidly expanding incident and the darkness last night made it tough to get a good, accurate picture of the amount of acreage.” Parkes added that authorities will update the acreage burnt after they have more information and better opportunities to map the fire.

About 500 personnel were fighting the fire; however, the containment remains at 0%. An estimated 2,000 people were under evacuation, as the fire has crossed Highway 128, heading west. The entirety of Geyserville was under mandatory evacuation, about 80 miles north of San Francisco Bay.

The fire exploded the exact same day many Californian companies under the lead of PG&E executed another round of intentional power cuts to prevent equipment sparking a wildfire. PG&E reported that a transmission line failed on Wednesday around 9:20 p.m. local time, leading to an immediate inspection. While the 230,000-kilowatt line was under inspection, fire personnel informed the utility worker of a broken jumper on a nearby tower. The location of the incident is the same as the origin of the blaze, causing many to wonder if these events were related.

Though winds are expected to die in Northern California, they may pick back up on Sunday, Oct. 27. If the fire is not extinguished by then, 65-mph gusts may further spread the fire.

As a precaution, Southern California Edison, another utility company in Southern California, shut off power to more than 15,000 of its customers on Thursday to prevent more wildfires. Even farther south, more than 320 customers lost power as San Diego Gas & Electric has cut power, following northern companies’ lead.

The Kincade Fire of Sonoma County has already scorched thousands of acres of Northern Californian land in a matter of hours, causing hundreds of homes to be evacuated. This number is expected to grow as the fire progresses over the next few days. Two evacuation centers have been set up by the American Red Cross to accommodate all of the displaced people.

Photo courtesy of WSJ.COM