California fires cover 1 million acres amid fears of new spread

Flames surround Lake Berryessa during the LNU Lightning Complex fire in Napa, California on August 19, 2020. – Thousands of people fled their homes in northern California on August 19 as hundreds of fast-moving wildfires spread across the region, burning houses and leading to the death of a helicopter pilot. (Photo by JOSH EDELSON / AFP)

by Jocelyne ZABLIT
Agence France-Presse

LOS ANGELES, California (AFP) — Firefighters on Sunday battled some of California’s largest-ever fires that have forced tens of thousands from their homes and burned one million acres, with further lightning strikes and gusty winds forecast in the days ahead.

Thousands of lightning strikes have hit the state in the past week, igniting fires that left smoke blanketing the region, bringing the total area burned to “close to one million acres,” or 400,000 hectares, according to CalFire public information officer Jeremy Rahn.

That is considered a stunning toll this early in California’s fire season, which normally runs from August to November, and it comes as exhausted firefighters are already struggling to keep up with the far-flung blazes.

People watch the Walbridge fire, part of the larger LNU Lightning Complex fire, from a vineyard in Healdsburg, California on August 20, 2020. – A series of massive fires in northern and central California forced more evacuations as they quickly spread August 20, darkening the skies and dangerously affecting air quality. (Photo by JOSH EDELSON / AFP)

The National Weather Service said dry thunderstorms could spark additional wildfires, adding that “the western US and Great Plains are shrouded under a vast area of smoke.” It issued red-flag warnings covering large swaths of northern and central California.

These conditions “could cause erratic winds, extreme fire behavior within the existing fires, and have a potential for new fires to start,” the CalFire website said.

Inmate firefighters arrive at the scene of the Water fire, a new start about 20 miles from the Apple fire in Whitewater, California on August 2, 2020. – More than 1,300 firefighters were battling a blaze that was burning out of control August 2 in southern California, threatening thousands of people and homes east of Los Angeles.
The so-called Apple Fire that broke out Friday near the city of San Bernardino has so far charred more than 20,000 acres (8,000 hectares), sending up columns of smoke visible from far away. (Photo by JOSH EDELSON / AFP)

Firefighters are stretched so thin that the state has turned down some local officials’ requests for help with equipment or personnel, forcing them to rely on volunteers and local agencies, the Los Angeles Times said.

About 2,600 firefighters are now tackling the two largest blazes, out of roughly 14,000 battling “nearly two dozen major fires,” according to Rahn.

With California pleading for outside help, several western states, the federal government and even the governments of Canada and Australia have responded.

Firefighters wait in an open field as flames make their way across a hillside during the Apple fire near Banning, California on August 1, 2020. – 4,125 acres have burn in Cherry Valley, about 2,000 people have received evacuation orders in the afternoon of August 1,2020, and round 8pm PT the fire spread to 12,000 acres. (Photo by JOSH EDELSON / AFP)

“Many of these firefighters have been on the lines for 72 hours, and everybody is running on fumes,” Assemblyman Jim Wood of the Healdsburg district in Sonoma told the Los Angeles Times. “Our first responders are working to the ragged edge of everything they have.”

The disparate force battling the many blazes now includes 2,400 fire engines, 60 of them from other states, with several hundred more requested, CalFire said.

More than 200 aircraft, including 95 fixed-wing planes, are taking part in what CalFire spokesman Daniel Berlant called “a significant air force” dropping loads of water, monitoring the spread of flames or ferrying firefighters and equipment.

Some 200 National Guardsmen have also been mobilized to help, he added.

Governor Gavin Newsom on Saturday posted a dramatic photograph of clouds of smoke rising from fires. “This is from today,” he said, “and is just a small part of the nearly 600 fires we are battling this week.”

He said Saturday that the White House had granted a request for a presidential disaster declaration to aid in the state’s response.

In this long exposure photograph, fire fills both sides of highway 128 during the Hennessey fire near Napa, California on August 18, 2020. – As of the late hours of August 18, the Hennessey fire has merged with at least 7 fires and is now called the LNU Lightning Complex fires. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin. (Photo by JOSH EDELSON / AFP)

He tweeted apocalyptic images of smoldering orange roadsides thick with smoke, with sparks flying as trees burned ferociously.

Wineries in the famed Napa and Sonoma regions, which are still reeling from blazes in recent years, are under threat.

EDITORS NOTE: Graphic content / A dead cow lays along a smouldering field in Vacaville, California during the LNU Lightning Complex fire on August 19, 2020. – California was in a state of emergency on August 19, 2020 as dozens of fast-moving fires, many triggered by lightning strikes during an extreme heat wave, spread across the north and centre of the state, threatening homes and causing the evacuation of thousands of people. About 20 fires broke out in the area of Vacaville in the northern Bay Area, emergency services said, and were being collectively called the LNU Lightning Complex fire after the intense lightning storm that sparked the conflagration earlier in the week. (Photo by JOSH EDELSON / AFP)

Not all have evacuated

The two largest blazes — the SCU Lightning Complex to the south of the San Francisco Bay area, and the LNU Lightning Complex to the north — have burned about 680,000 acres and destroyed more than 850 structures.

They are the second and third largest fires in California history, with the SCU fire only 10 percent contained and the LNU fire 17 percent contained.

A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California during the LNU Lightning Complex fire on August 19, 2020. – As of the late hours of August 18,2020 the Hennessey fire has merged with at least 7 fires and is now called the LNU Lightning Complex fires. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin. (Photo by JOSH EDELSON / AFP)

Five deaths have been linked to the latest flare-ups, with four bodies recovered on Thursday, including three from a burned house in a rural area of Napa County.

But many residents have refused evacuation orders.

A home burns in Vacaville, California during the LNU Lightning Complex fire on August 19, 2020. – California was in a state of emergency on August 19, 2020 as dozens of fast-moving fires, many triggered by lightning strikes during an extreme heat wave, spread across the north and centre of the state, threatening homes and causing the evacuation of thousands of people. About 20 fires broke out in the area of Vacaville in the northern Bay Area, emergency services said, and were being collectively called the LNU Lightning Complex fire after the intense lightning storm that sparked the conflagration earlier in the week. (Photo by JOSH EDELSON / AFP)

“At least if we’re here, we know exactly what’s going on,” Napa resident John Newman, 68, told the San Francisco Chronicle as he sat in a lawn chair in his driveway. “Family is worried, but it’s a little different if you’re here firsthand.”

Nature reserves were also ravaged. The Big Basin Redwoods State Park said that some of its historic buildings had been destroyed by flames.

The park, where giant redwood trees of well over 500 years old can be found, was “extensively damaged,” it said.

About 119,000 people have been evacuated, with many struggling to find shelter and hesitating to go to centers set up by authorities because of coronavirus risks.

In some counties south of San Francisco, evacuees opted to sleep in trailers along the Pacific Ocean as they fled nearby fires, while tourists were urged to leave to free up accommodation.

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – AUGUST 20: Heavy smoke from nearby wild fires covers the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco on August 20, 2020 as seen from the Marin Headlands in Sausalito, California. Ezra Shaw/Getty Images/AFP

California has already been struggling, more than most with US states with the coronavirus. The combination of that disease and the thick smoke from wildfires has caused what the San Francisco Chronicle called “a respiratory nightmare.”

A doleful headline in the paper asked, “What masks can protect you from both smoke and COVID-19?”