This morning, state officials will be holding a news conference to provide updates on California’s wildfire response and preparedness efforts. The news conference in Sacramento County, scheduled for ten a.m., will include Governor Gavin Newsom, state fire officials and emergency officials. It will be livestreamed on the Governor’s social media pages. There have been nearly 3,500 wildfires across the state this year, burning more than 197,000 acres of land.
The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors has voted to change the wording of a controversial ballot measure involving larger livestock and poultry farms. The November ballot initiative, if passed, would outlaw so-called factory farms. The opening words of the ballot question, as written by the Coalition to End Factory Farming, said it is “to promote animal welfare, water quality, and other goals.” But, opponents argued that violated state election code, which mandates neutral wording on the ballot. On Tuesday, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors voted to get rid of the preface on the ballot question, which the county says is inaccurate. Supervisor Lynda Hopkins says there is nothing in the ballot initiative that regulates or monitors animal welfare.
NASA is using satellite data and artificial intelligence to track and predict wildfires in California. The data will be passed along to firefighters in the state to help them identify areas that are the most vulnerable to wildfire. Infrared photos show how much moisture is in the ground and how dry vegetation is. With the use of machine learning, models can be extracted from the data to predict which areas firefighters should consider deploying pre-emptive measures, like controlled burns.
As the heat wave continues, temperature records in some parts of California have been shattered. On Friday, Palm Springs hit 124 degrees. A record high was set in Palmdale at 115 degrees and in Redding at 119 degrees on Saturday. There were also new records for the highest temperature recorded on a certain day of the year in some locations, including Sacramento, Stockton, Modesto, Big Bear and Death Valley.
Meteorologists are calling for a long-duration heat event in Northern California over the next few days. They say hot temperatures will continue through Friday. Kate Forrest with the National Weather Service in Sacramento says starting at 11 a.m. today, there is a heat advisory in the Delta and an excessive heat warning for the Southern Sacramento Valley and Northern San Joaquin Valley. They last until 8 p.m. on Friday. Thursday will be the hottest day, with temperatures in the Sacramento region reaching as high as 112 degrees. According to the NWS, we’ll see noticeably cooler temperatures with a significant cooling trend and much cooler overnight lows by the weekend, with near-normal temperatures for this time of year.
The Mina Fire continues to burn in Mendocino County. The last update shows it’s burned 98 acres so far and is about 30% contained. Officials from CalFire say it’s burning in heavy fuels, but firefighters continue to cut direct lines at multiple spot fires. Evacuation warnings remain in place for the area near 97550 Mina Road near Covelo.
Progress was stopped last night on a small wildfire northeast of Ukiah. Dubbed the Springs Fire, it threatened one structure near the 3200 block of Vichy Springs Road. Crews reported the fire burned about 2 acres and was moving slow. PG & E was called to the area as the fire was burning near the powerlines. The incident commander on the scene said forward progress was stopped around 7:30pm. Officials are investigating what started the fire.
Mendocino County residents are being asked to comment on the Albion River Bridge Project. CalTrans released a draft environment document on the project this week. You can review the document at AlbionRiverBridgeProject.com or see it at the Mendocino Community Library on William Street in Mendocino. It’s also available at the Fort Bragg Branch of the library. CalTrans will accept comments until September 9th. You’re also invited to a public meeting on the project. That meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, August 13th at 6pm at the Whitesboro Grange in Albion.
