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A trio of storms moving into the West Coast is finally bringing down the curtain on the wildfire season.
High wind warnings and advisories and flash flood warnings were out from Northern California through Washington on Thursday and more is on the way. Forecasters say some areas could get nearly two feet of rain between now and next Tuesday. Meteorologists say the heavy rains are about a month early and that's good news in Northern California where wildfire season has been fierce. "So right now what we're looking at how much rain we're going to get and what this weekend is actually looking like,” said Chief Paul Lowenthal of the Santa Rosa Fire Department. “And hopefully be able to officially declare the end of fire season here locally."
The US Forest Service says the Caldor Fire is fully contained. The blaze broke out in mid-August, and burned nearly 222,000. El Dorado National Forest officials say they have repaired about half of the dozer and hand lines that were constructed during the fire. They have also repaired many isolated areas that had been used for staging and airdrops. All roads, trails and facilities are closed in the fire zone as many hazards remain with weakened trees and unstable hillsides. There are concerns that this week's rain could trigger debris flows, and possible mud and rock slides in the burn scar area.
On Wednesday night, more than 11,000 customers all across the Bay Area were without power. PG&E said its crews are dealing with those outages as quickly as possible.