SAN FRANCISCO: Firefighters have been battling to slow down the wildfires spread in California that have burned up to a million acres in a week and damaged hundreds of homes. The present state of the wildfire threatened to spark new fires and overwhelm the state’s firefighting ability. Donald Trump, President of the United States of America (USA), in the wake of the emergency, on Saturday, August 22, issued a major disaster declaration to provide federal assistance. The declaration will also support people in counties affected by the fires in crisis counseling, housing and other social services, said Gavin Newsom, Governor, California, USA.
Two wildfire outbreaks have broken the old records in the San Francisco Bay Area to become the second and third largest wildfires by size in recent state history.
Fire crews have made a bit of progress with the help of light winds, cooler and more humid night time weather, but the efforts can be hampered by warm, dry weather, erratic wind gusts and lightning in the forecast, said the state fire officials. A red flag warning of high fire danger across the Bay Area and along the Central Coast has been issued by the National Weather Service.
Thom Porter, Chief, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CalFire), in a tweet said that the worst is not behind us. We are in a battle rhythm.
According to CalFire, since the outbreak of thousands of lightning strikes on August 15, the state has responded to 585 wildfires that have burned almost one acres, or 1,562 square miles (4,046 square kilometers). Many were small and remote. The majority of damage was done by three clusters of fire “complexes” that were causing excessive damage to forest and rural areas in the San Francisco Bay Area and wine country north of San Francisco. They have burned 1,045 square miles (2,700 square kilometers). The third one was burning in the Santa Cruz Mountains and along the coast of San Mateo County, south of San Francisco. Five people have been killed by the fires while nearly 700 homes and other structures have been burnt and tens of thousands have been forced out from their houses.
Earlier in the week, fire officials in charge of the three major wildfires had informed that they were short of resources. Instead of normal 24 hours shift, some firefighters worked for 72 hours. By Friday, the approximately 13,700 firefighters on the line started receiving assistance on the ground and in the air from 10 states, along with the National Guard and US military.