California wildfires chase people from homes into smoky air

Crews worked in blistering heat Wednesday to beat back wildfires that ignited across Northern California, sending thousands of people from their homes into smoky air and killing a pilot on a firefighting mission.

Hundreds of fires are burning across California, including 23 major fires or groups of fires that Gov. Gavin Newsom blamed on “this extraordinary weather we’re experiencing and all of these lightning strikes.”

He said the state has recorded nearly 11,000 lightning strikes in 72 hours and knows of 367 fires.

Ash and smoke filled the air in San Francisco, which is surrounded by wildfires burning to the north, east and south. The LNU Lightning fire is made up of several fires in five counties north of San Francisco, including in Vacaville, and had consumed 72 square miles (186 square kilometres).

Police and firefighters went door-to-door before dawn in a furious rush to warn residents to abandon as flames encroached on Vacaville, a city of about 100,000 between San Francisco and Sacramento. At least 50 structures were destroyed, including some homes, and 50 were damaged.

“This is an incredibly emotional and stressful time for most of us who’ve endured a number of wildfires over the last few years,” said Sonoma County Sheriff Mark Essick.

John Gardiner, 60, stayed up all night after receiving an alert from a neighbour of oncoming fire just before midnight. His house and neighbours’ homes were still safe, but he worried that could change with crews anticipating hot winds.

“It was incredible — things swirling, winds just whipping through like a howling, ripping sound and then you could hear explosions going off,” he said. “You can taste smoke in your mouth.”

According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the helicopter that crashed was fighting a wildfire in the central part of the state and the pilot was the only one aboard.

In eastern San Francisco Bay, a cluster of 20 separate lightning-sparked fires called the SCU Lightning complex was threatening about 1,400 structures in rugged terrain with dense brush. The fires have torched 133 square miles (344 square kilometres).

To the south of San Francisco in San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties, about 22,000 people were ordered to evacuate because of a fire burning in densely wooded parkland that threatened communities, Cal Fire spokesman Jonathan Cox said.

About 22 fires are part of the complex and most had been burning in relatively remote, dense brush until strong winds overnight Tuesday pushed them into more populated areas, merging some of the fires together.

Resources are strapped, he said, given the number of fires burning in California.

“We’re in the unfortunate position where firefighters are going to be spending several days out on the fire line,” he said. “It’s gruelling, it’s exhausting.”

Christopher Godley, Sonoma County’s emergency management director, also conceded that resources are thin.

“It’s difficult to second-guess what the fire commanders are doing with their aircraft. But it’s not like last year when we saw just a huge wealth of resources flowing into the county,” he said. “It is what it is.”