Calif. firefighters dig in as winds expected to worsen huge blazes

SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif. — Three massive wildfires chewed through parched Northern California landscape Sunday as firefighters raced to dig breaks and make other preparations ahead of a frightening weather system. That system was packing high winds and more of the lightning that sparked the huge blazes and scores of other fires around the state, putting nearly a quarter-million people under evacuation orders and warnings.

At the so-called CZU Lightning Complex fire in the Santa Cruz Mountains, south of San Francisco, authorities said their effort was hindered by people who refused to heed evacuation orders and those who were using the chaos to steal. Santa Cruz County Sheriff Jim Hart said 100 officers were patrolling and that anyone not authorized to be in an evacuation zone would be arrested.

He and county District Attorney Jeff Rosell expressed anger at what Mr. Rosell called the “absolutely soulless” people who seek to victimize those already victimized by the fire. Among the victims was a fire commander who was robbed while helping coordinate efforts Saturday.

The Santa Cruz fire is one of the “complexes,” or groups of fires, burning on all sides of the San Francisco Bay Area.

The National Weather Service issued a “red flag” warning through Monday afternoon for the droughtstricken area, meaning extreme fire conditions including high temperatures, low humidity and wind gusts up to 65 mph that “may result in dangerous and unpredictable fire behavior.”

Officials surveying maps at command centers are astonished by the sheer size of the fires, Cal Fire spokesman Brice Bennett said.

“You could overlay half of one of these fires, and it covers the entire city of San Francisco,” Mr. Bennett said Sunday.