Raging Bear Fire Turns Day into Night Across Sonoma County, Bay Area

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The Bear Fire and North Fire Complex along the Feather River east of Oroville blew up overnight, and its smoke plume has turned day into night across much of the North Bay and the rest of Northern California.

The thick smoke plume was driven south and west, toward Sacramento, Sonoma County and the Bay Area by strong NE winds. The August Complex Fire was also sending smoke to the south toward Sonoma County.

At 9AM, street lights were still on across much of Sonoma County and though much of the smoke was higher in the atmosphere, smoke mixing to the surface was causing hazardous air quality across large areas.

20 thousand people have already been evacuated, and almost the entire city of Oroville is under an evacuation warning. The fire burned to the southwest overnight driven by winds exceeding 50 mph at times. First responders spent much of the night locating and rescuing residents and visitors trapped along the path of the raging fire. By some estimates the fire traveled 30 miles to the southwest within 24 hours. The fire is burning near the area of the 2018 Camp Fire.

Images are of Santa Rosa Wednesday morning under the smoke plume, the Bear Fire and Satellite Imagery.