Wine country blaze prompts evacuation orders as California endures "critical" fire conditions
28 September 2020
Firefighters in the western U.S. were facing "critical fire weather conditions," as a rapidly spreading new wildfire in Northern California prompted fresh evacuations Sunday.
Why it matters: Wildfires have burned a record 3.6 million acres in California this year, killing 26 people and razing over 7,600 structures, per Cal Fire. Utility provider Pacific Gas & Electric cut power to 11,000 customers early Sunday and planned outages for 54,000 others later in the day because of fire risks.
Strong offshore winds associated with building high pressure will produce temperatures 15 to 25 degrees above normal across much of the West Coast into this week. Heat Advisories are in effect for the Bay Area in California, and southwestern Oregon. pic.twitter.com/MLlztTRT8I
— National Weather Service (@NWS) September 27, 2020
What's happening: The Glass Fire prompted mandatory evacuation orders for Napa County communities in California's wine country after the blaze broke out Sunday morning and quickly spread across 1,500 acres with 0% containment.
- Red flag warnings were issued "across a large portion of California, the central Rockies and the High Plains," per the National Weather Service (NWS).
The big picture: 69 large fires were burning across the U.S. on Sunday — including 20 in California, 14 in Idaho, 11 in Oregon and 10 in Montana, per the National Interagency Fire Center.
- After cooler, damper conditions earlier in the week, dry and windy conditions were promoting "elevated to critical fire weather conditions across a broad area of the western U.S. into the Plains," the NWS said.
Threat level: Cal Fire noted red flag warnings were in effect until Monday, affecting most areas from Trinity County down through the Diablo Range and Central Sierra Mountains, with low humidity bringing critical fire weather conditions.
- "Gusty winds and low humidity will bring critical fire weather, as well as unseasonably high temperatures," Cal Fire said.
- "A Fire Weather Watch is in effect for later in the weekend into Monday for strong winds and low humidity affecting the Western Klamath in the north and the San Gorgonio Pass and Inland Empire in the south. High pressure brings elevated temperatures across the state through the weekend and into next week."
Editor's note: This article has been updated with the more information on the weather and the fire threat.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.