Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday pledged that California was “putting everything we have” on the wildfires ravaging the state, while acknowledging that even that was not enough to stamp out the 560 fires that have burned over 771,000 acres.
Despite having deployed almost 12,000 firefighters statewide, California was still struggling on Friday to contain the blazes in the state’s north, which are swelling further and forcing more people to flee their homes. Mr. Newsom said he had asked for help from states near and far — including on the East Coast — and even from Australia.
At least 119,000 people have already been ordered to leave their homes, Mr. Newsom said, and fire officials ordered more to flee on Friday, including along the Russian River near Santa Rosa.
In total, the fires have burned an area larger than the size of Rhode Island since last weekend, and much of that was devoured by two massive groups of fires in Northern California. Those fire groupings, the L.N.U. Lightning Complex in Napa Valley and the S.C.U. Lightning Complex east of Silicon Valley, are the second- and fourth-largest fires in state history, Cal Fire said.
And even as the fires grow further, forecasters with the National Weather Service’s Bay Area office warned that there could be more dry thunderstorms this weekend, potentially bringing a dangerous combination of lightning and wind to an already-burning region.
Five deaths have been linked to the fires, including three people who were found in a burned down house in a rural area of Napa County and who have not yet been identified. A man in Solano County was also found dead on Thursday, and a helicopter pilot died in a crash while on a water-dropping mission in Fresno County on Wednesday.
The smoke from the fires is also worsening an already oppressive heat wave and making the air unhealthy across Northern California. At the same time, the electrical grid has struggled to keep up with demand, and the coronavirus threatened illness in evacuation shelters.
NYT
