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Firefighters are working 72-hour shifts, but say it is not enough to contain the blazes
U.S. President Donald Trump has declared that fires burning through homes and destroying precious forestry in California are a major disaster and he has released federal aid.
More than 14,000 firefighters are battling 585 fires that now have nearly one million acres (400,000 ha) of fires.
Forecast high winds threaten to drive flames into more populated areas than foul air blanket blankets.
At least six people have died and thousands have been evacuated.
Most of the destruction was caused by three large fire complexes in mountainous and forested countryside.
On Saturday, Governor Gavin Newsom said the SCU Lightening Complex fire south and east of San Francisco is the third largest in California history.
Video tweeted by the mayor showed fire trunks against the red-hot steam-filled sky and plumes of white smoke rising from ash-laden ground.
An evacuation campaign was extended on Saturday to thousands of people in the Bay Area near San Jose and warned others to be ready to leave their homes in the short term.
Extinct firefighters are battling the blaze, with some working 72-hour shifts in the dangerous, hot conditions, reports AP news agency AP. “They are crawling for bodies” to help fight the fire, a Fresno city official told Reuters news agency.
In California’s oldest state park, flames burned red trees that began their lives more than 2,000 years ago. The historic visitor center of Big Basin State Park was burned to the ground and officials say some trees, which tower as high as 100 meters (100 meters), have fallen because the area was “extensively damaged”.
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Park officials fear that redwoods, the world’s tallest trees, have caught fire
The state faces are more acute staff shortages than usual – the coronavirus pandemic has formed a corps of firefighters, consisting of prisoners, which has helped the state battles since World War II, due to early release from prison.
At least 43 people, including firefighters, have been injured, and hundreds of buildings have been burnt down and thousands more threatened.
After doubling in size on Friday, the fires on Saturday continued to grow moderately and firefighters made some progress in extinguishing the flames.
More than 12,000 dry lightning strikes began blowing last week during a historic heat wave in which thermometers in Death Valley National Park reached what may be the highest temperature ever recorded.
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Hundreds of buildings are on fire including this historic 157-year-old farm
The largest wildfire, called the LNU Lightening Complex, is in the leading Napa and Sonoma wine-growing areas north of San Francisco and contains just 15%, CalFire said on Saturday.
Further south in the province of Santa Cruz, 115 homes were destroyed and some residents evacuated.
“I went away with my clothes … two guitars and a dog,” one Santa Cruz evacuee told CNN branch KGO.
Firefighters dug a line of fire around the University of California Santa Cruz because flames came within a mile of the buildings and the surrounding area.
Gov. Newsom has sought help from as far afield as Australia and Canada. Firefighters, motorcycles and surveillance aircraft drove in from U.S. states, including Oregon, New Mexico and Texas.
Although California is accustomed to wildfire, the governor called the fires contrary to anything the state had seen before. “If you do not believe in climate change, then come to California,” he tweeted on Saturday.
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Fires have been burning through parts of California’s wine-producing regions
With more than 650,000 cases of coronavirus, California also has the highest number of infections in the U.S., and some evacuees have said they are afraid to go to emergency shelters.
U.S. agencies have updated disaster relief and evacuation law in light of Covid-19. People who may need to flee should be told to wear at least two face masks per person, such as hand sanitizer, soap and disinfectant wipes.
Here are some important guidelines to protect yourself from Covid-19 if you need to evacuate to a shelter:
- Wash your hands often
- Keep six feet away from anyone who is not in your household
- Be as much as possible a face mask, and if possible, wash regularly
- Avoid sharing with food and drink
- Often disinfect your area in the shelter (including toys and electronics)
Emergency shelters maintain social distance rules and mask wear, and have even given individual tents to families to isolate themselves. Some counties try to set up separate shelters for sick evacuees as well as for anyone found to have a high temperature.
Officials say people should consider shelter with family and friends.
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Evacuation centers, including at Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, must also enforce social distance rules
Officials also advise people to stay indoors because of the poor air quality outside.
California also has to deal with electricity shortages, which have caused rolling blackouts for thousands of customers. Officials have appealed to residents to use less power as risks for further cuts.
Satellite images show near smoke in California, as well as most of Nevada and southern Idaho.
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