NO PINOY CASUALTIES IN CALIFORNIA FIRES

There was so far no Filipino casualty in the wildfire raging in California’s wine country, where at least 18,000 Filipinos live, according to Malacañang.

But Ernesto Abella, presidential spokesperson, said the Philippine government commiserates with Northern California residents displaced by the wildfire that had killed 32 people as of late Saturday.

Abella said that although no Filipino died in the fire, the Philippine government would keep checking on the condition of Filipinos in the area.

“We continue to reach out to the Filipino communities in the affected areas,” he said.

Fire officials in California reported headway against the devastating blazes but said the death toll was expected to climb further.

Even as firefighters gained enough ground for authorities to consider letting some of the estimated 25,000 evacuees to return home, they were bracing for more hot, dry winds that could escalate the threat to communities still in harm’s way.

Ground crews raced to clear away drought-parched vegetation along the southern flanks of the fires, removing highly combustible fuels adjacent to populated areas before extreme heat and winds reached these first.

As of Friday afternoon, 17 major wildfires had consumed more than 89,000 hectares of dry brush, grasslands and trees across eight counties since erupting on Sunday night.

Officials said power lines toppled by gale-force winds on Sunday might have sparked the conflagration, though the official cause remained under investigation.

The fires had destroyed at least 5,700 homes and other buildings, with much of the devastation centered in and around the Sonoma County town of Santa Rosa, where whole neighborhoods were reduced to gray ash and smoldering ruins.

The Napa Valley town of Calistoga faced one of the biggest remaining threats. Its 5,000-plus residents were ordered out of their homes on Wednesday night as one of the fiercest of the blazes, the so-called Tubbs fire, crept to within 3.2 kilometers of city limits.