Wildfires tore through Northern California overnight, spreading quickly and engulfing homes as firefighters battled to get control of the blazes, which have forced a growing number of evacuations and were likely caused by lightning strikes in recent days.
People were ordered to flee neighborhoods in Vacaville, a city of about 100,000 residents near Sacramento, as a combination of uncontrolled fires northwest of the city began to overtake homes. That group of fires, known together as the LNU Lightning Complex, has destroyed more than 50 buildings or structures and is threatening nearly 2,000 more, the authorities said.
It grew more than 14,000 acres overnight and now covers 46,225 acres in Napa and Sonoma Counties — larger than the size of Washington, D.C. — and is completely uncontained, the authorities said. Four people have been injured in the fire.
Videos from Vacaville showed flames leaping through one neighborhood, from trees to homes to picket fences.
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Philip Galbraith, 52, said he and his 20-year-old son received no warning of the approaching fire until a neighbor began “desperately banging” on his door around 2:45 a.m.
“I got out of the house in pretty much what I had on,” he said. “I got my son and we left.”
The authorities have also ordered residents to evacuate in several other areas where groups of fires, also likely caused by lightning, are spreading quickly. The SCU Lightning Complex, a group of about 20 different fires, more than doubled in size overnight, and is now burning over 85,000 acres across five counties — largely in unpopulated regions near the Bay Area — and is just 5 percent contained. A third combination of fires, known as the CZU August Lightning Complex, has grown to 10,000 acres and forced evacuations in Santa Cruz County.
Firefighters had hoped for calmer weather overnight, but gusty winds arrived instead, pushing the fire toward vegetation and other fresh fuel, said Lynnette Round, a spokeswoman for California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire.
“Today they’re going to be in for another firefight,” she said, as the winds and dry, hot weather continue.
Source: California Fires Live Updates: State Hit by 10,000 Lightning Strikes in 72 Hours
