A massive heatwave and lightning strikes have caused wildfires to ravage California, striking the central part of the state, and burning hundreds of thousands of acres.
Changing weather raised concerns on Sunday over new fires breaking out in California overnight and state and local officials have warned residents to prepare to evacuate their homes.
“There’s not a feeling of pure optimism but a feeling of resolve, a feeling of we have resources backing us up,” Sonoma county supervisor James Gore said.
Firefighters have been battling three "complexes" of fires resulting from high winds, temperatures, and lightning in Northern California.
Progress was steady on Saturday, with good weather aiding firefighter's efforts despite smoky skies that prevented water-dropping aircraft from flying at low altitude. Evacuation orders were lifted in some areas as reinforcements came to help the overwhelmed servicemen.
US President Donald Trump issued a disaster declaration on Saturday and offered federal assistance. Governor Gavin Newsom said that the support will provide crisis counseling, housing, and other social services to those in the afflicted areas.
Firefighters have been struggling throughout the week to tackle the two largest clusters of fires near the San Francisco Bay area due to low resources.
“All of our resources remain stretched to a capacity that we have not seen in recent history”, said Shana Jones, CalFire’s Sonoma-Lake-Napa unit chief.
The fire in California’s wine country had only 1,400 firefighters assigned. A significant decline in manpower compared to the 5,000 who fought the fire in Mendocino in 2018 - the largest in state history.
So far, 1,120 square miles have been burned, after emerging from three clusters of fires that spread throughout the forest and rural areas in and around the San Francisco Bay Area.
Ancient redwood trees in California’s oldest state park, Big Basin Redwoods, and park’s headquarters and campgrounds have all fallen victim to the fire. People were also forced to stay indoors due to smoke which caused the air quality to become dangerous.
So far, five people have died as a result of the fires, with 700 homes and other buildings destroyed, while tens of thousands have fled their homes.
Lightning attacks spark worst fires in California’s history (videos and pictures)
Strange Sounds
“The worst is not behind us,” tweeted Thom Porter, chief of Cal Fire, the state’s firefighting agency. “We are in a battle rhythm. New lightning activity is expected across the state. Double your efforts, to lookout for yourselves and each other.“
The fires were sparked by nearly 12,000 lightning strikes in a dry California terrain that hasn’t seen much rain. The “lightning siege” created close to 600 new wildfires, said Jeremy Rahn, a public information officer for Cal Fire, at a briefing yesterday:
Lightning attacks spark worst fires in California’s history (videos and pictures)
Strange Sounds
Hundreds of buildings have been destroyed, close to a million acres of land have been scorched and at least six people have died in one of the worst series of wildfires in California’s history.
More than 13,700 firefighters are battling nearly two dozen major fires throughout the state, fire officials said Saturday. Five broad areas of the state are on fire, and the largest blazes remain mostly uncontained.
“The worst is not behind us,” tweeted Thom Porter, chief of Cal Fire, the state’s firefighting agency. “We are in a battle rhythm. New lightning activity is expected across the state. Double your efforts, to lookout for yourselves and each other.“
The fires were sparked by nearly 12,000 lightning strikes in a dry California terrain that hasn’t seen much rain. The “lightning siege” created close to 600 new wildfires, said Jeremy Rahn, a public information officer for Cal Fire, at a briefing yesterday:
The National Guard is providing helicopter support while Air National Guard and the Air Force Reserve is supporting the effort with C-130 aircrafts equipped with water tanks to fight the fire from above.
Two of the fire systems now raging are among the five largest wildfires in California history, Cal Fire reports: the 341,000-acre LNU Lightning Complex Fire in the northern Bay Area and Central Valley, the 340,000-acre SCU Lightning Complex Fire largely east of San Jose.
It’s the second-largest fire in the state’s history. These fires have killed four people and destroyed more than 840 structures, state officials said.
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