Californians on highway to hell

LAKE OF FIRE Boats on Lake Berryessa, Napa city

ONE of the wildfires that have killed at least six and injured 43 across California rages by a motorway as desperate families flee.

The motorists outside the city of Vacaville were among 175,000 residents forced to hit the road as firefighters tackled 560 separate blazes ravaging the US state for days.

Forests are aflame and thousands of homes face being razed – with more than 771,000 acres of land destroyed so far. The worst outbreaks are in the mountains to the south and east of San Francisco, with some in the top 10 worst to have hit the state.

Governor of California Gavin Newsom has urged President Donald Trump to sign a major disaster declaration. And he pleaded with Canada and Australia to send help for his 12,000 exhausted firefighters.

He said: “We simply haven’t seen anything like this in many, many years.”

Fourteen other US states have also reported outbreaks following the heatwave and a string of lightning strikes.