Former Mayor Chris Coursey Challenges Zane for District 3 Seat

March 13, 2020

Democratic Debate: Biden And Sanders Face Off One-On-One – Sunday at 5pm

Only two candidates will be on stage for Sunday's Democratic primary debate: former Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. The CNN-Univision debate was relocated from Arizona to Washington, D.C., and will not have an in-person audience due to coronavirus concerns. Follow live coverage of the debate, with real-time analysis from NPR reporters. (Photo: Angela Hsieh/NPR) Loading...

March 03, 2020

Super Tuesday Live Video

March 03, 2020

Super Tuesday

Fourteen states hold contests today, with about a third of all delegates for the Democratic nomination at stake. The field has narrowed, after Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg dropped out. Both endorsed Joe Biden, while Bernie Sanders says he wants to “open the door” to their supporters. Follow the latest news here. We’ll have live results tonight. Loading...

March 02, 2020

The Developer Bonus Tucked Into the School Bond on Your Ballot

By Matt Levin, CalMatters California voters are being asked to approve a controversial measure making it easier for developers to build apartment buildings within a half-mile of public transit. Most will think they’re only voting on whether the state should borrow more money to fix broken air conditioners in schools. On its face this new Proposition 13 —the only statewide ballot measure to appear on the ballot for California’s March 3 presidential primary—asks voters for $15 billion in state…

March 02, 2020

Spending on Measure I Exceeds 2 Million Dollars

The March 3rd election is just around the corner, and perhaps the most contested measure on the Sonoma County Ballot is Measure I. The measure would extend the quarter-cent sales tax to fund the SMART train for an additional 30 years. KRCB’s Adia White tells us why the measure has been so controversial. (Image: The SMART train pulls into the Rohnert Park station. Credit: Adia White)

February 24, 2020

Proposition 13 Seeks $15 Billion for California's Schools

Proposition 13 is the only statewide initiative on the ballot March 3rd. The proposed bond would funnel 9 billion dollars into the state's k-12 schools, and a total of six billion for community colleges, the 23 campuses of the State University system, and the 10 branches of the University of California KRCB’s Steve Mencher spoke with Lisa Vollendorf, the executive vice president of Sonoma State University. He asked about educators’ arguments in favor of Proposition 13 and other big changes in…

Feb 20, 2020

David Cook Challenges Gorin For First District Seat

City of Sonoma Councilmember David Cook is challenging Susan Gorin for the first district seat on the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors. He spoke with KRCB’s Steve Mencher about his previous experience and how his priorities would differ from his opponent’s. Listen to the full-length interview: (Image: City of Sonoma Councilmember David Cook. Credit: City of Sonoma)

Feb 20, 2020

Gorin Runs for a Third Term on the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors

Chair of the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, Susan Gorin, is running for a third term on the board. Her opponent for the district one seat is City of Sonoma Councilmember, David Cook. KRCB’s Steve Mencher spoke with Gorin about whether the County has done enough to address homelessness during her time on the board and what she would accomplish if reelected. Listen to the full-length interview below: (Image: Chair of the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, Susan Gorin. Credit: Regional…

Feb 14, 2020

Shirlee Zane Defends Her Seat on the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors

Shirlee Zane is squaring off with former Santa Rosa mayor Chris Coursey in the district 3 Sonoma County Board of Supervisors race. Zane is hoping to win a fourth term as supervisor. She spoke with KRCB’s Steve Mencher about her record and how the board handled the encampment along the Joe Rodota Trail. Listen to the full-length interview below:

Feb 12, 2020

Lynda Hopkins Makes Her Case for a Second Term as Supervisor

Lynda Hopkins is defending her District 5 seat on the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors. Hopkins holds a master's degree in land-use policy from Stanford and is running for her second term as supervisor. She joined KRCB’s Steve Mencher at the end of January to talk about her accomplishments and priorities. Listen to the full-length interview below: (Image: Supervisor Lynda Hopkins speaking on a panel about women in leadership at the Paradise Ridge Winery. Credit: Steve Mencher.)

Feb 11, 2020

Mike Hilber Challenges Lynda Hopkins for District 5 Seat

Mike Hilber is challenging incumbent Lynda Hopkins for the District 5 seat on the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors. Hilber has a master's in electrical engineering from Stanford and worked in the defense industry in Southern California. In the early 1990’s he moved back to his childhood home in Roseland to care for his mother. KRCB’s Steve Mencher spoke with him about his priorities and previous experience in Sonoma County politics. Listen to the full-length interview below: (Image: Mike…

Feb 10, 2020

Interview: Reporter Will Houston Lays Out the Pros and Cons of Measure I

Marin and Sonoma County voters will soon decide whether to extend a sales tax supporting the SMART train until 2059. Campaigns on both sides of the issue have each received over a million dollars in support of their positions. Reporter Will Houston from the Marin Independent Journal has been following the issue closely. KRCB’s Adia White spoke with him over the phone to find out why this measure is so controversial. (Image: The SMART train at the downtown Santa Rosa station. Credit: Wikimedia) I

Sonoma County Wildfire Awareness Tools

(in UTC )

Above is a fresh image from the fastest but least accurate satellite heat detection system, called GOES-17. Compare the timestamp on the map to the current time: this image should be less than six minutes old. You can reposition the map and zoom in and out. Hot spots are detected where you see colored rectangles. Each rectangle is roughly 2 Km x 2 Km (1.25 x 1.25 mi). This does not reliably show you boundaries for a given fire, but it tells you there's probably fire or smoke somewhere inside that area. The color of the rectangle indicates how old the report is:
art A

MODIS and VIIRS are different satellites that are more accurate, with a visual resolution of .6 miles and .22 miles, respectively. Inside that range, they cannot further differentiate where heat/smoke are. These satellites only pass overhead once or twice per day.

Hot spots appear as asterisks. Here again, colors indicate the age of the hot spot report:
ART B

You can zoom in to see more information like the time of the flyover and the measured ground temperature associated with each hotspot.

Access both of these maps directly at https://caltopo.com/map.html#ll=38.18207,-122.64862&z=8&b=om

Known Fire Starts

Click here to see known fire starts, as identified by GIS professionals from emergency agencies and social media.

Lightning Strikes

Live strikes are mapped live here

911 Calls

911 fire calls could indicate a problem before satellites can see it. Below are the active fire and medical 911 calls in Sonoma County. Note you can also see these calls displayed in "map view."

You can click https://www.broadcastify.com/listen/ctid/231 to listen to 911 dispatch. Don't trust everything you hear: first reports are often inaccurate.

Live Cameras

You can check live cameras on many North Bay mountaintops to look for fires. Click http://beta.alertwildfire.org/northbay/?camera=Axis-BarnhamNorth to go to that site.

Evacuations

The county of Sonoma lists the current evacuation orders and evacuation warnings here. You can zoom in to see more detail.

Sometimes the map lags the actual orders by a few minutes. County of Sonoma emergency announcements may show up here first: Tweets by CountyofSonoma

To access County of Sonoma emergency pages directly: https://socoemergency.org/

Wind

Wind, particularly at higher elevations, can be a powerful force in fire growth. Here are the current wind conditions and forecast. (Scroll right for subsequent days.)

Wind forecast for Santa Rosa Airportwindfinder.com

Wind forecast for St. Helenawindfinder.com

NWS Advisories

The National Weather Service is responsible for issuing Red Flag fire warnings or fire weather watches. Any current watches or warnings will be listed here:

There are no active watches, warnings or advisories
Current Watches, Warnings and Advisories for Sonoma (CAC097) California Issued[…] Jun 27, 2022 | 21:48 pm

Read more...

Smoke

Here's a live map of air pollution due to smoke. Green numbers are normal. Anything else is unusual. You can zoom in to your exact location.

To access this page directly: https://www.purpleair.com/map?opt=1/m/i/mAQI/a10/cC4#9.72/38.3779/-122.6859
There's also a national weather service experimental smoke forecast page here: https://hwp-viz.gsd.esrl.noaa.gov/smoke/index.html

PG&E

When fire weather is expected, PG&E may cut power. During a wildfire, many customers will usually lose power. If a "public safety power shutdown" is planned, you'll see an alert message below. (You can dismiss it by clicking "continue.") On the map, you can then select current or future outages.

To access this page directly: https://pgealerts.alerts.pge.com/outages/map/

Wildfire Fuel Mapper

Create a custom map to show the fire fuels surrounding any Sonoma County parcel at https://www.wildfirefuelmapper.org/

KRCB 104.9, our Public Radio Station

We're Sonoma County's NPR station and we report on all major local emergencies. Please tune to 104.9 FM for the latest. Or, you can click here to listen to a live stream, or follow our reporting on www.krcb.org. Or, follow us on twitter:

We've done our best to curate the most useful online tools for identifying fires and staying abreast of their progress. If you discover new ones you'd like us to include, please contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. KRCB 104.9 features NPR + Sonoma County news during morning and evening commute time, with local DJs playing music and talking about community events most of the rest of the time. We'll break in with news as needed. Tune in! (and thanks). Please visit www.krcb.org/join to learn more or help support Sonoma County's public radio station.