Calif. governor asks Trump for aid as state battles 17 blazes

SAN FRANCISCO — Gov. Jerry Brown on Saturday called on President Donald Trump to help California fight and recover from another devastating wildfire season.

Brown, who inspected neighborhoods wiped out by a wildfire in the Northern California city of Redding, said he was confident the president with whom he has clashed over immigration and pollution policies would send aid, which Trump did last year when California’s wine country was hit hard.

“The president has been pretty good on helping us in disasters, so I’m hopeful,” said Brown, a Democrat. “Tragedies bring people together.”

There are 17 major fires burning throughout California, authorities said. In all, they have destroyed hundreds of homes, killed eight people — including four firefighters— and shut down Yosemite National Park.

“Fire season is really just beginning,” said California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection chief Ken Pimlott.

The biggest blazes continue to burn north of San Francisco, including twin wildfires fueled by dry vegetation and hot, windy weather. Those fires destroyed 55 homes and forced thousands of residents to flee their neighborhoods about 100 miles north of the city. They have grown to a combined 300 square miles.

The two fires have charred an area of the forested, rural area five times the size of San Francisco and were only 27 percent contained. Thousands of people remain evacuated.

More evacuations were ordered Saturday for an area of Mendocino and Lake counties where the weekold twin fires are threatening about 9,000 homes.

The largest of the two fires was 50 percent contained.

However, most evacuations were lifted by Saturday in and around Redding, where armies of firefighters and fleets of aircraft continue battling an immense blaze about 100 miles south of the Oregon line. Some areas on the fire’s southeastern flank were reopened to residents.

The fire near Redding, which killed six people and incinerated 1,067 homes, started two weeks ago with sparks from the steel wheel of a towed-trailer’s flat tire, Cal Fire officials said.

The blaze is 41 percent contained.