California firefighters chase new fires ignited by lightning

scrambled Friday to quash fires ignited by lightning as thunderstorms with mostly small but welcome amounts of rain rumbled across drought-stricken Northern California, where forests have been burning for weeks.

Firefighters were diverted from the huge Caldor Fire south of Lake Tahoe to fight multiple overnight lightning fires throughout El Dorado County, according to the local unit of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The largest of those fires erupted in heavy brush in the steep terrain of Kanaka Valley. Rain from the storm cell helped firefighters and the fire’s spread was stopped at less than 2.8 hectares, Cal Fire said.

Another fire believed to have been sparked by lightning was burning in Mendocino County, north of San Francisco Bay. The Press Democrat reported it covered 3.2 hectares Friday morning.

Lightning blitzes can have disastrous outcomes in parched California. Last year’s record amount of land burned included huge Northern California fires that were ignited when remnants of a tropical storm unleashed thousands of bolts. A cluster of 2020 lightning fires known as the August Complex burned more than 4,182 square kilometres and is considered the largest California wildfire on record.

The National Weather Service said there were more than 1,100 cloud-toground lightning strikes in California between Thursday evening and Friday morning, including 110 in the Bay Area.

A historic drought and recent heat waves tied to climate change have made wildfires harder to fight in the American West. Scientists say climate change has made the region much warmer and drier in the past 30 years and will continue to make weather more extreme and wildfires more frequent and destructive.

U.S. President Joe Biden will survey fire damage during a visit to California next week in which he will also campaign for Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom, who faces a recall election Tuesday.