LOS ANGELES (US) – Military aircraft, firefighters from the US West and National Guard personnel poured into blaze-hit California on Sunday to fight the two dozen wildfires surging through the state.
The worst conflagration is raging through the San Francisco Bay Area, where more than 200,000 people have been asked to move to safer areas.
“Extreme fire behavior with short and long range spotting are continuing to challenge firefighting efforts. Fires continue to make runs in multiple directions and impacting multiple communities,” the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said, referring to the largest conflagration which has been named the LNU Lightning Complex.
The blazes were triggered by lightning strikes from dry thunderstorms which hit Northern and Central California over the past week. The blazes have killed at least six people and gutted 700 houses and other buildings. As much as one million acres have been scorched, said Cal Fire.
Smoke and ash from the flames have blanketed northern parts of the states and are visible from other states as well.
A series of small became a major blaze named LNU Complex and it has surged through 340,000 acres of Napa, Sonoma, Lake, Yolo and Solano counties, said CalFire spokesman Daniel Berlant.
The second-largest fire in the state was only 17% contained as of Sunday afternoon.
Firefighters have arrived from Arizona, Montana, Nevada, Texas and Utah and more are slated to arrive, said Berlant. As many as 200 members of the National Guard had been activated.
President Donald Trump declared the wildfires a major disaster on Saturday and released federal funds to help businesses and residents harmed by the blazes in seven counties of California.
According to Berlant, more dry thunderstorms are expected through Tuesday and red flag warnings had been issued across much of the northern and central parts of the state.
(Photos syndicated via Reuters)
This story has been edited by BH staff and is published from a syndicated field.