The Kincade Fire started on the night of Wednesday, Oct. 23, in the hills east of Alexander Valley. It grew to 16,000 acres in the first day; a week later, as of this writing, it was around 77,758 acres.
In its path, almost 200,000 people were evacuated from northern Sonoma County, including the entire towns of Geyserville, Healdsburg, Windsor, Sebastopol and half of Santa Rosa. In west county, the mandatory evacuation area stretched all the way to the ocean.
Firefighters made valiant stands on the east side of Healdsburg, Windsor and Geyserville, holding the fire at bay and preventing it from starting an even larger conflagration by keeping it from jumping Highway 101.
Now that the fire is 70% contained, many evacuees are coming back to homes devoid of electricity or gas. PG&E is working to restore both across a wide area.
Meanwhile, in the eastern hills, the fire is still burning, and almost 5,000 firefighters are working to contain it.
