The evacuations have come amid a grueling heat wave, the coronavirus pandemic and air thick with smoke.
The wildfires have burned through more than 350,000 acres.
The wildfires that continued to rip across Northern California on Thursday have forced 62,000 people from their homes and threaten evacuations for 100,000 more. Firefighters have struggled to contain the blazes, and massive smoke clouds have harmed the air quality.
A large group of fires burning in wine country west of Sacramento had grown to cover 131,000 acres, according to Cal Fire, the state’s fire authority. The agency said that, in all, nearly 350,000 acres have burned in Northern and Central California, with many fires sparked by lightning strikes in the high heat and then fanned by winds.
The wildfires have burned through more than 350,000 acres.
The wildfires that continued to rip across Northern California on Thursday have forced 62,000 people from their homes and threaten evacuations for 100,000 more. Firefighters have struggled to contain the blazes, and massive smoke clouds have harmed the air quality.
A large group of fires burning in wine country west of Sacramento had grown to cover 131,000 acres, according to Cal Fire, the state’s fire authority. The agency said that, in all, nearly 350,000 acres have burned in Northern and Central California, with many fires sparked by lightning strikes in the high heat and then fanned by winds.
Those conditions helped new fires sprout across the state on Wednesday and Thursday, and caused other fires to merge, complicating efforts to contain the combined blazes. Almost two dozen major fires were reported on Wednesday, and more than 300 smaller ones.
Daniel Berlant, assistant deputy director of Cal Fire, said the hot temperatures that helped start the fires could continue into the weekend.
The University of California, Santa Cruz, has urged students to evacuate campus immediately as wildfires draw closer.
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