⁍ A wind-driven wildfire erupted on Sunday in the heart of northern California’s Napa Valley wine country.

---

⁍ The blaze forced the evacuation of a hospital and hundreds of homes.

---

⁍ All 55 patients at the Adventist Health St. Helena hospital were safely evacuated by ambulance and helicopter.

---

– Hundreds of homes were ordered to evacuate in California’s Napa Valley on Sunday as a wildfire raged out of control. The so-called Glass Fire erupted before dawn and within a mile of the Adventist Health St. Helena hospital, forcing the evacuation of 55 patients, a hospital spokeswoman tells Reuters. At least 600 homes were ordered to evacuate, with 1,400 more warned to be ready to flee at a moment’s notice, says a spokesman for the state’s forestry and fire protection department. The cause of the fire is being investigated, and no injuries have been reported, reports the Los Angeles Times. The area, known as one of California’s premiere wine-producing regions, accounts for just 4% of the state’s total annual grape harvest but half of the retail value of all California wines sold, according to the Napa Valley Vintners trade group. California wildfires have scorched more than 3.7 million acres in the first nine months of 2020, far exceeding any single year in state history, killing 26 people and destroying more than 7,000 structures. Napa and other wine-growing regions have been hit by wildfires in and around the Bay area for several years. Susan Krausz, co-owner of Arkenstone Estate Vineyards in the Howell Mountain community of Angwin, says it would take days or weeks to assess the impact of the latest blaze on valley vintners. “Most people have harvested,” she says, but added, “Any time’s a bad time for a fire.”