At least two people have died helping to fight California wildfires that have forced thousands to flee their homes, destroyed over 100 structures, led to the evacuation of an Air Force base and covered large swaths of the Bay Area in smoke.
“We are experiencing fires the likes of which we haven’t seen in many, many years,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said at a news conference Wednesday.
A PG&E utility worker died while helping first responders battle one complex or group of fires in Northern California, according to NBC Bay Area. The utility company said out of respect for the worker’s family, it would not release further details.
A helicopter pilot was also killed in a crash while on a water-dropping mission Wednesday morning at the Hills Fire, around 9 miles south of Coalinga in the San Joaquin Valley, said the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire.
The pilot worked for a private company contracted by the agency.
The state is currently battling 367 fires, 23 of which are major fires or complexes, Newsom said Wednesday. Many were sparked by a massive number of lightning strikes in California — 10,849 over three days — as the state is gripped by a heatwave.
The infernos are stretching the state’s resources, the governor said. “The totality, when you consider 367 active fires we’re aware of all across California … that is a resource challenge where they are stretched in ways we haven’t seen in the last few years.”
The largest blaze, the LNU Lightning Complex Fire, has burned 124,100 acres across five Northern California counties — Napa, Sonoma, Lake, Yolo, and Solano — and was zero percent contained, according to Cal Fire’s latest update Wednesday. It is made up of several fires connected to lightning strikes in Napa and Sonoma counties.
More than 100 structures have been destroyed and four people described as civilians have been injured. On Wednesday night, the Travis Air Force Base in Solano County, northeast of the San Francisco Bay Area, ordered all nonessential personnel to evacuate.
Bay Area residents were warned to stay indoors due to smoke from more than three dozen fires in counties just outside San Francisco, San Jose and Oakland.
A mobile park in Napa was flattened and nearly 100 people had to quickly evacuate Tuesday night as a fire ripped through the Spanish Flat Mobile Villa, according to NBC Bay Area.
One resident, a 90-year-old woman who has hearing issues, had to be rescued by a neighbor. Another neighbor, Marcia Ritz, told the outlet that everyone escaped to a resort on Lake Berryessa but that flames continued to draw closer.
“One of our friends had a pontoon, and there were 10 of us that got on it, and we were out on the water for about five hours,” Ritz said.
More than 50 trailers in the mobile park were destroyed by the blaze.
Newsom said there have been 6,754 fires since the start of the year, compared to 4,007 at this time last year.
A group of 20 fires that is being tracked as the single SCU (Santa Clara Unit) Lightning Complex Fire has burned 102,000 acres across five counties — Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa, San Joaquin and Stanislaus.
Cal Fire said as of Wednesday night that it was only five percent contained.
“The fires continue to burn in steep, rugged terrain and are influenced by extreme temperatures, and low relative humidity,” Cal Fire SCU said in an incident report. “Some of the terrain has little to no fire history with decadent fuels conducive to extreme fire growth.”
More than 3,700 structures were threatened by that blaze.
Five fires in San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties — dubbed the CZU August Lightning Complex — broke out Monday night and had burned 25,000 acres, according to Cal Fire. It was zero percent contained.
