California wildfires rage as death toll rises to 35
SONOMA (Reuters) — The most lethal outbreak of wildfires in California’s history has killed 35 people and forced more than 90,000 residents from their homes as fierce winds were expected to stir the flames and test firefighters yesterday in the northern part of the state.
The wind-driven blazes, which erupted a week ago in the heart of California’s renowned wine country, north of San Francisco, have destroyed an estimated 5,700 homes.
A total of 17 major wildfires — some encompassing several smaller blazes merged together — had consumed nearly 222,000 acres of dry brush, grasslands and trees across eight counties.
Ground crews gained ground on the wildfires last Friday as they raced to clear drought-parched vegetation along the southern flanks of fires, removing highly combustible fuels adjacent to populated areas before extreme heat and winds were forecast to revive over the weekend.
Winds were to intensify overnight and into yesterday with gusts of up to 55 miles per hour (90 kilometers per hour) along with 10 percent humidity, the service warned.
“If new fires start, they could spread extremely rapidly,” Brooke Bingaman, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Sacramento, California, said in a video posted on Facebook.
“Those fuels are super dry right now. This also could cause problems for the current wildfires and the firefighters who are trying to suppress them.”
Wildfire ripped through the Sonoma County town of Santa Rosa, where whole neighborhoods were reduced to landscapes of gray ash, smoldering debris and burnedout vehicles.
The 35 confirmed fatalities — 19 in Sonoma County — mark the greatest loss of life from a single fire event on record in California, surpassing the 29 deaths from the Griffith Park, Los Angeles fire in 1933.
Some victims were asleep when flames engulfed their homes, and many survivors had only minutes to flee.
With 235 people still missing last Friday in Sonoma County alone, and rubble from thousands of incinerated dwellings yet to be searched, authorities have said the number of fatalities from the socalled North Bay fires would likely climb.