California is struggling with huge fires. The area occupied by the fire doubled on Friday and forced more than 175,000 people to evacuate their homes.
At least six people died in the fires. One of them is a helicopter pilot who died in the crash while extinguishing a fire in Fresno County. 43 people were injured. The fire destroyed more than 500 houses and other buildings.
560 fires
Over 560 fires have been recorded in the region in the last five days. Most are in the San Francisco Bay Area, as well as the Palo Alto and Sacramento areas.
“We still don’t have enough firefighters to deal with a fire of this size,” said Daniel Potter, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CalFire). He added that the flames in the vicinity of Santa Cruz alone forced 64,000 people to evacuate, because many residential buildings are located among trees.
A total of about 1,000 firefighters fight all fires. Very high temperature and strong gusts of wind do not make it easier to extinguish the fire.
Caused by storms
The fires started as a result of strong lightning strikes. The state was hit by the worst storms in nearly two decades, with 11,000 lightning bolts.
“If you don’t believe in climate change, come to California,” California Governor Gavin Newsom said at the Democratic Party’s pre-election convention on Thursday evening.
–
