Two California burns have grown to become the second- and third-largest blows in the state’s recorded history as firefighters struggle to contain the flames that have consumed large parts of the Bay Area.
And authorities should now also be concerned about looting, according to reports.
Firefighters said the two clusters of fires – one north of San Francisco and the other east of San Jose – burned about 300,000 acres (468 square miles), with more than 13,700 firefighters struggling to contain the flames. Forced 115,000 out of their homes, the Wall Street Journal said.
That’s just part of the damage: Authorities say about 12,000 lightning strikes have helped sparkle through large states of the Golden State since August 15, with the flames so far totaling 915,000 acres (1,430 square miles) statewide – an area the size of Rhode Island, the Journal said.
Massive plumes of wildfire smoke have spread as far away as Kansas, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.
“That’s a lot of smoke to travel that far east,” Dodge City National Weather Service chairman Matt Gerard told the outlet. “We’ve had some pretty bright red sunbeams and sunsets, and the smoke rising in the atmosphere that comes up gives the sky a really grayish radiance.”
“I heard someone remark that the air smelled like roses from s’mores, and that’s not something we just get here.”
The California National Water Service issued a ‘red flag’ warning on Monday afternoon for dry regions in the Santa Cruz area, warning that wind gusts up to 65 mph and high temperatures’ could result in dangerous and unpredictable fire behavior. ‘
California firefighters, who are largely drawn from local departments, are now in a race against time as they crawl to dig breaks in the flames before windy water enters and potentially bring more lightning strikes, CBS reported. News.
Authorities said attempts to repel the flames were hampered by homeowners refusing to evacuate and by widespread looting in neighborhoods where residents have fled, the station said.
Santa Cruz County Sheriff Jim Hart said he had 100 officers patrolling the evacuation zone with orders to arrest anyone who was not authorized to be there.
“What we hear from the community is that there is a lot of looting,” Hart said, adding that eight people were already breastfed.
“I can not imagine a greater empty life,” said the sheriff.
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