California Declares State of Emergency as Wildfires Rage Sunday Sep 13,2015

 

The Governor of California declared a state of emergency on Sunday Sep 13,2015 as raging wildfires spread in the northern part of the drought-ridden US state, forcing thousands to flee the flames.

Twelve blazes are currently burning but two - one about 160 kilometres west of the state capital of Sacramento and one about 161 kilometres to the east - have been particularly damaging over the last week, destroying hundreds of homes and mobilising thousands of firefighters

Driven by high winds and soaring temperatures, the Butte Fire has burned 26,000 hectares and was just 20 per cent contained while the Valley Fire had grown to 16,187 hectares overnight and was zero per cent contained, state fire agency CAL FIRE said.

Governor Edmund Brown "today issued an emergency proclamation for Lake and Napa counties due to the effects of the Valley Fire, which has burned thousands of acres of land and caused the evacuation of residents and damage to highways and other infrastructure," a statement said.

The town of Middletown, population 1,300, was particularly devastated by the Valley Fire, according to local daily Santa Rosa Press-Democrat, which said the fire grew from 20 hectares to 4,047 hectares over just five hours on Saturday -  before quadrupling in size overnight.
"I'm looking in all directions, and all I see is fire," local fire chief Steve Baxman told the paper.

Nearly 1,000 firefighters have been called in to combat the fast-moving blaze, which was tearing through oak-and-grass hillsides dried out from a fourth year of drought. CAL FIRE said four of those firefighters suffered second-degree burns while battling the blaze and 5,000 homes were without power.

Throughout Saturday night and Sunday morning, new evacuation orders were issued for nearby communities, including all the way south to the border of the town of Calistoga, at the northern edge of the Napa Valley wine region.