Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Reinforcements Arriving to Help in Deadly California Fires
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 5 years ago on
August 22, 2020

Share

SAN FRANCISCO — Firefighters and aircraft from 10 states began arriving in California Friday to help weary crews battling some of the largest blazes in state history as weekend weather threatened to renew the advance of flames that have killed six people and incinerated hundreds of homes.

Some 560 wildfires were burning throughout the state but many were small and remote. The bulk of damage was from three clusters of blazes that were ravaging forest and rural areas in the wine country and San Francisco Bay Area.

Some 560 wildfires were burning throughout the state but many were small and remote. The bulk of damage was from three clusters of blazes that were ravaging forest and rural areas in the wine country and San Francisco Bay Area.

Those complexes, consisting of dozens of fires, exploded in size Friday. Together, they had scorched 991 square miles (2,566 square kilometers) and destroyed more than 500 homes and other buildings, fire officials said.

At least 100,000 people were under evacuation orders.

Two Bay Area clusters, the LNU Lightning Complex and the SCU Lightning Complex, became respectively the second- and third-largest wildfires in recent state history by size, according to Cal Fire records.

The third blaze, the CZU Lightning Complex, is in San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties.

The fires were sparked by lightning from unsettled weather earlier in the week. Cooler, more humid weather overnight helped firefighters make ground against the fires but the National Weather Service issued a fire weather watch from Sunday morning into Tuesday for the entire Bay Area and central coast.

Forecasters said there was a chance of thunderstorms bringing more lightning and erratic gusts.

Pam, who declined to give a last name, examines the remains of her partner’s Vacaville, Calif., home on Friday, Aug. 21, 2020. The residence burned as the LNU Lightning Complex fires ripped through the area Tuesday night. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

That Could Help Crews Make Further Progress Against the Sprawling Fire

More than 12,000 personnel were fighting fires around the state, aided by fleets of helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. By Friday, the state’s fire agency, Cal Fire, had called out 96% of its available fire engines. But reinforcements began to arrive.

The number of personnel assigned to the LNU complex, in the heart of wine country north of San Francisco, more than doubled from 580 to over 1,400 Friday and nearly 200 fire engines were on the scene, fire officials said.

“I’m happy to see the jumps that we’ve had today,” said Sean Kavanaugh, Cal Fire incident commander.

That could help crews make further progress against the sprawling fire, which was just 15% contained. Most evacuations for the town of Vacaville were lifted Friday. The fire threat there was reduced after reaching the edges of town.

“I feel like we’re up on our feet, standing straight and actually moving a little bit forward,” Kavanaugh said Friday night.

However, the number of large fires was “staggering” and had put “tremendous strain” on firefighting resources throughout the Western states, he said.

Nevada and Arizona, for example, have battled sizable blazes this week as a heat wave swept the West.

Hank Hanson, 81, gestures to the kitchen of his home, destroyed by the LNU Lightning Complex fires, in Vacaville, Calif., on Friday, Aug. 21, 2020. Hanson, who built the house thirty years ago, does not think he will rebuild. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

With Firefighting Resources Tight, Homes in Remote, Hard-To-Get-To Places Burned Unattended

Gov. Gavin Newsom said 10 states were sending personnel and equipment. The governor also said he was reaching out to Canada and Australia for help.

With firefighting resources tight, homes in remote, hard-to-get-to places burned unattended, Cal Fire Chief Mark Brunton pleaded with residents to quit battling fires on their own, saying that just causes more problems for the professionals.

“We have more people but it’s not enough,” Newsom said.

In the Santa Cruz mountains south of San Francisco, about 1,000 firefighters were battling a fire 10 times the size they typically would cover, said Dan Olsen, a Cal Fire spokesman.

With firefighting resources tight, homes in remote, hard-to-get-to places burned unattended, Cal Fire Chief Mark Brunton pleaded with residents to quit battling fires on their own, saying that just causes more problems for the professionals.

“We had last night three separate rescues that pulled our vital, very few resources away,” he said.

But Peter Koleckai credits a neighbor, not firefighters, with saving his home in a rural area where dozens of homes were reduced to smoldering ruins.

“We were here at about 3 o’clock in the morning and the fire department just left. They just left,” he said.

Koleckai said he ran to a firefighter and told him a brush fire was erupting next to a house.

A California Dept. of Corrections fire crew cuts a containment line while fighting the CZU August Lightning Complex Fire on Friday, Aug. 21, 2020, in Bonny Doon, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

The Death Toll From California Fires Has Reached at Least Six

“They never went up there and it engulfed the whole house, took the house out,” he said.

A neighbor with a high pressure hose, firefighting equipment and a generator saved his home, Koleckai said.

Cal Fire Battalion Chief Mike Smith said typically a wildfire of the size burning through the region would have 10 or even 20 times as many firefighters.

“We are doing absolutely everything we can,” he said.

The death toll from California fires has reached at least six. Three bodies were found Thursday in a burned home in Napa County, said Henry Wofford, a Sheriff’s Office spokesman.

A man also died in neighboring Solano County, and a Pacific Gas & Electric utility worker was found dead Wednesday in a vehicle in the Vacaville area.

Also Wednesday, a helicopter pilot died in a crash while dropping water on a blaze in Fresno County.

Smoke and ash billowing from the fires has fouled the air throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and along California’s scenic central coast.

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Will California Meet Newsom’s 2035 EV Deadline? It Won’t Even Hit the 2026 Target 

DON'T MISS

Trump Says Putin May Not Want Peace and May Need to Be ‘Dealt With Differently’

DON'T MISS

Is It Bad to Chew Gum All Day?

DON'T MISS

Dollar Doubts Dominate Gathering of Global Economic Leaders

DON'T MISS

US Judge Temporarily Stops West Texas Immigrant Deportations Under Alien Enemies Act

DON'T MISS

Shedeur Sanders’ Long Wait Ends When Browns Take Him in the 5th Round of the NFL Draft

DON'T MISS

Only About Half of Republicans Say Trump Has Focused on the Right Priorities

DON'T MISS

ICE Deports the Mother of an Infant and a 2-Year-Old Who Is a US Citizen

DON'T MISS

Israeli Airstrike Kills 10 People, Half of Them Children

DON'T MISS

Shedeur Sanders Is Still Waiting for a Call as the NFL Draft Enters the Final Day

UP NEXT

Only About Half of Republicans Say Trump Has Focused on the Right Priorities

UP NEXT

Israeli Airstrike Kills 10 People, Half of Them Children

UP NEXT

Shedeur Sanders Is Still Waiting for a Call as the NFL Draft Enters the Final Day

UP NEXT

Israel’s AI Experiments in the War in Gaza Raise Ethical Concerns

UP NEXT

Paul Skenes Strikes Out 9, Wins Duel With Yamamoto in Pirates’ Victory Over Dodgers

UP NEXT

Eovaldi Outlasts Verlander as Rangers Beat Giants

UP NEXT

Rams Take Oregon Tight End Terrance Ferguson in Second Round After Trading Out of First

UP NEXT

The Latest: Francis Is Remembered as a ‘Pope Among the People’ as He Is Laid to Rest

UP NEXT

Trump Now Doubts Putin Wants to End Ukraine War, a Day After Saying a Deal Was Close

UP NEXT

Virginia Giuffre, Voice in Epstein Sex Trafficking Scandal, Dies at 41

Dollar Doubts Dominate Gathering of Global Economic Leaders

2 days ago

US Judge Temporarily Stops West Texas Immigrant Deportations Under Alien Enemies Act

2 days ago

Shedeur Sanders’ Long Wait Ends When Browns Take Him in the 5th Round of the NFL Draft

2 days ago

Only About Half of Republicans Say Trump Has Focused on the Right Priorities

2 days ago

ICE Deports the Mother of an Infant and a 2-Year-Old Who Is a US Citizen

2 days ago

Israeli Airstrike Kills 10 People, Half of Them Children

2 days ago

Shedeur Sanders Is Still Waiting for a Call as the NFL Draft Enters the Final Day

2 days ago

Israel’s AI Experiments in the War in Gaza Raise Ethical Concerns

2 days ago

Paul Skenes Strikes Out 9, Wins Duel With Yamamoto in Pirates’ Victory Over Dodgers

2 days ago

Eovaldi Outlasts Verlander as Rangers Beat Giants

2 days ago

Will California Meet Newsom’s 2035 EV Deadline? It Won’t Even Hit the 2026 Target 

It was with brash confidence that Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that by 2035, the only new cars and light trucks sold in California would be e...

23 hours ago

23 hours ago

Will California Meet Newsom’s 2035 EV Deadline? It Won’t Even Hit the 2026 Target 

2 days ago

Trump Says Putin May Not Want Peace and May Need to Be ‘Dealt With Differently’

2 days ago

Is It Bad to Chew Gum All Day?

2 days ago

Dollar Doubts Dominate Gathering of Global Economic Leaders

2 days ago

US Judge Temporarily Stops West Texas Immigrant Deportations Under Alien Enemies Act

2 days ago

Shedeur Sanders’ Long Wait Ends When Browns Take Him in the 5th Round of the NFL Draft

2 days ago

Only About Half of Republicans Say Trump Has Focused on the Right Priorities

2 days ago

ICE Deports the Mother of an Infant and a 2-Year-Old Who Is a US Citizen

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend