Thousands evacuate from California wine region

Thousands of people have been forced to evacuate as a Northern California wildfire continued to spread Monday.

The Glass Fire in Napa Valley is being fanned by dry gusts of wind, according to California Governor Gavin Newsom.

“The Glass fire grew substantially overnight roughly 800 acres to 11,000 acres, a substantially number of structures have been damaged wineries and other structures in and around the area … An active wildfire generating a lot of attention appropriately so, lot of consternation from residents in that region that has been hit over and over and over again over the course of the last number of years.”

Two smaller fires merged to form the Glass Fire, jumping the natural fire barriers of Highway 29, the Silverado Trail and the Napa River.

Local resident Tom Kalijan tried to hose down the land before escaping.

“Right here we have a little sliver of ground between here and the Napa River, it’s just a couple of acres, and it’s just completely covered with forestation. If anything gets into the yard it will all be gone.”

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection says more than a thousand firefighters are working to contain the flames.

It has already been a historically destructive year for wildfires in the U.S. West.

A record 3.75 million acres have gone up in flames in California in 2020 alone.

At least 26 people have died since August 15, and 7100 buildings have burnt to the ground.