Vacaville: Crews worked in blistering heat on Wednesday to beat back wildfires that ignited across Northern California, sending thousands of people from their homes into smoky air, briefly halting traffic on an interstate and killing a pilot on a firefighting mission.
Hundreds of fires were burning across California, including 23 major fires or groups of fires that Gov. Gavin Newsom blamed on this extraordinary weather that we’re experiencing and all of these lightning strikes. He said the state has recorded nearly 11,000 lightning strikes in 72 hours and knows of 367 fires.
Ash and smoke filled the air in San Francisco, which is surrounded by wildfires burning to the north, east and south. The LNU Lightning Complex is made up of several fires in five counties north of San Francisco, including in Vacaville, a city of about 100,000 people between San Francisco and Sacramento.
Nearby Travis Air Force Base ordered non-mission essential personnel to evacuate, officials said.
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The fire had consumed nearly 194 square miles (502 square kilometers) Wednesday night, an area larger than the size of San Jose.
It jumped Interstate 80 Wednesday afternoon, briefly blocking traffic in both directions.
Several thousand people in the small communities of Angwin and Deer Park were ordered evacuated.
Police and firefighters went door-to-door before dawn in a frantic scramble to warn residents to evacuate as flames encroached on Vacaville. At least 50 structures were destroyed, including some homes and 50 were damaged.
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In eastern San Francisco Bay, a cluster of 20 separate lightning-sparked fires called the SCU Lightning complex was threatening about 1,400 structures in rugged terrain with dense brush. The fires have torched 133 square miles (344 square kilometers).
To the south of San Francisco in San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties, about 22,000 people were ordered to evacuate because of a fire burning in densely wooded parkland that threatened communities, Cal Fire spokesman Jonathan Cox said.
At least 20 homes had burned, fire officials said.
About 22 fires are part of the complex and most had been burning in relatively remote, dense brush until strong winds overnight Tuesday pushed them into more populated areas, merging some of the fires.
Resources are strapped, he said, given the number of fires burning in California.
“We’re in the unfortunate position where firefighters are going to be spending several days out on the fire line,” he said. “It’s grueling, it’s exhausting.”
The cluster of wine country fires threatens an area that only last year grappled with another massive blaze that forced 200,000 to flee — a task made more complicated this year because of the pandemic.
In Southern California, an 8-day-old blaze grew to more than 40 square miles (100 square kilometers) near Lake Hughes in northern Los Angeles County mountains.
Chewing through century-old fir, oak and pine, the fire continued to be a threat to 4,570 structures after destroying a dozen. Dangerously hot weather and rough terrain challenged firefighters’ efforts to increase containment, currently estimated at 38%.
(AP)
