Fire Danger Brings On Smoking Ban

VACAVILLE, Calif. — State fire officials, battling blazes that have charred more than 35,000 acres in Northern California, banned outdoor smoking in parts of 44 counties Wednesday in an unusual emergency decree.

Jerry Partain, director of the California Department of Forestry, said the ban was necessary because of the extreme danger of destruction to natural resources, property and life “caused by critical fire weather and acute dryness.”

Fire officials predicted Wednesday that they will have the Vacaville fire extinguished by Saturday evening, one week after the blaze that has destroyed seven homes and blackened 22,000 acres began.

The fire was 60% contained and 20% controlled Wednesday afternoon as firefighters continued backfire operations that began Tuesday, said forestry department spokeswoman Jeannie Heller.

Partain’s no-outdoor-smoking order, which does not apply to automobile interiors or incorporated cities, covers the following counties: Del Norte, Humboldt, Trinity, Siskiyou, Modoc, Lassen, Shasta, Tehama, Glenn, Butte, Plumas, Sierra, Nevada, Yuba, Placer, Mendocino, Lake, Napa, Colusa, Yolo, Solano, Sonoma, Marin, Contra Costa, Alameda, San Mateo, Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, El Dorado, Amador, Sacramento, Calaveras, Tuolumne, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, San Benito, Monterey, Fresno, Kings, Tulare and Kern.