California's wildfires often erupt in the fall, whipped by hot, dry winds that blow westward after a dry summer. In November 2018, at least 85 people died in the Camp Fire in Northern California, the deadliest wildfire in state history. Overnight, winds around the Tick Fire reached speeds of 60 miles per hour (100 kph). They weakened to 20 mph (30 kph) on Friday but scorching temperatures of above 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius) were complicating the firefighting effort, Osby said. By Friday evening or this weekend, the winds could shift and increase in speed, potentially drawing the fire into a wooded area where it would burn through plentiful fuel and gain strength, Osby said. In northern and central California, where firefighters were battling a smattering of blazes, electric utility crews had restored power to most of the nearly 200,000 homes and businesses that had intentionally been left in the dark because of risk of high winds downing electrical lines. In Sonoma County, about 80 miles (130 km) north of San Francisco, where the local vintners include "The Godfather" director Francis Ford Coppola, the Kincade Fire has destroyed nearly 22,000 acres (8,900 hectares), officials said. Crews have carved containment lines around just 5 percent of the fire's perimeter since it erupted on Wednesday night, fueled by gale-force winds. But light breezes early on Friday helped firefighters make headway. The blaze has triggered the evacuation of about 2,000 people from the communities of Geyserville and Healdsburg, said Sonoma County Sheriff's Office spokesman Juan Valencia. Geyserville and Healdsburg are hubs of upscale restaurants, wine-tasting rooms, inns and shops surrounded by hills dotted with vineyards about 75 miles (120 km) north of San Francisco. The cause of the Kincade Fire has not been determined, but local officials said it appears to have erupted near the base of a damaged high-voltage transmission tower owned by the bankrupt PG&E Corp. --SPA 03:04 LOCAL TIME 00:04 GMT 0020 www.spa.gov.sa/w1197803