- Feb 7, 2011
- 8,802
- 3,383
- 118
- Country
- 'Merica
- Gender
- 3 children in a trench coat
Nearly 11,000 lightning strikes in 72 hours ignite more than 300 fires in California
Thousand of people are under mandatory evacuation.
abcnews.go.com
Nearly 11,000 lightning strikes over 72 hours ignited hundreds of fires across California that have roared through wildland, destroyed homes and forced thousands to evacuate.
The historic lightning siege left firefighters scrambling from one end of the state to the other and Gov. Gavin Newsom, who declared a statewide emergency, calling for extra personnel and equipment to battle the conflagrations from the ground and from the air.
"What has occurred over the last 72 hours has certainly stretched the resources of this state," Newsom said at a news conference on Wednesday.
The fires have come during a record-breaking heat wave in California, with temperatures soaring past 100 degrees every day this week.
California fires turn deadly as evacuees worry about their homes, Covid-19, and excessive heat
Besides having the most Covid-19 cases in the US, California is facing multiple crises this week -- including dozens of major wildfires and surprise power outages as residents endure a blistering heat wave.
www.cnn.com
Update 8/22:
Number of wildfires is up to 585 with 1 million acres burned. There's also supposed to be another massive lightening storm on Sunday which will likely start more fires.
Update 8/23:
1,433,063 acres have now burned with 6 deaths, 20 injuries, and 3,114 buildings destroyed.
Update: 8/24:
Over 1,500,000 acres have burned. The only worse season for fires was 2018 when we had 1,900,000 acres burn and 100 people died. Problem is, that was the entirety of the 2018 fire season and the 2020 fire season has only just started with 4 more months left so we're on track to easily break that record.
Last edited:
USA
