Valley and Butte Wildfires in California Have Destroyed 700 Homes

Containing the fire is made more hard by the fact that many people ignored the sheriff’s warning to evacuate, forcing emergency responders to come to the rescue.

Four firefighters were also injured when they dropped in to fight the fire by helicopter.

The Lake County fire and another blaze about 120 miles to the southeast have displaced 23,000 people and were the worst of a dozen wildfires burning in the state. The world traveler and sharp-minded woman with advanced multiple sclerosis said she would be fine.

The union that represents 6,500 firefighters launched a fundraising campaign Monday for the eight victims.

Costa Mesa’s Engine 84 chipped in at the Butte Fire, and at one point, the firefighters reported, the flames grew so intense that it jumped a fire line, prompting a quick retreat by firefighters. Brown said Sunday the declaration will expedite debris removal and waive fees to people who need to replace official documents lost in the fire. “That’s all I could think of”, she said.

Her name hasn’t been released pending notification of relatives. Others are missing, but officials don’t yet know whether those unaccounted for are elsewhere.

Barbara McWilliams, 72, was a retired teacher who had settled in the Middletown area during the previous year, but was unable to make it out of her home before the fire approached. “They saved some clothes, pictures and heirlooms from grandma”.

The blaze, which started Saturday, has charred 105 square miles and destroyed at least 585 homes.

Cool weather on Monday put an end to the raging flames of the Valley Fire in Northern California that destroyed hundreds of homes and businesses in the area.

Brown said the “climate change debate” remains, in his opinion, “irrelevant”.

One person has since been confirmed dead.

The OCFA has responded as part of an elaborate mutual aid network made up of fire agencies across the state that share personnel and resources when major wildfires break out in California, Concialdi said. Some 9,000 strutures are still threatened and an estimated 400 hundred homes have already been destroyed although there is no exact count. “As this fire is getting into homes, our fire crews are not able to battle the fire”, says Berlant.

Johnson and his mother safely escaped and spent Sunday night at a high school gymnasium converted into an evacuation centre.

Donations of food, clothing and shoes, diapers and dog food have flooded in.

Evacuees walked around eating, picking up donated clothing and walking their dogs.

Almost 600 homes have gone up in flames since the blaze roared to life over the weekend.