California is still facing down the worst outbreak of wildfires in perhaps a century.
The dozens of fires that sparked for various reasons in the northern part of the state have already destroyed tens of thousands of homes, decimated hundreds of thousands of acres, and have killed at least 40 people with hundreds more missing.
Many of the larger fires have combined into a single line of as much as 100 miles wide, keeping regional firefighters beyond their limits of exhaustion.
What’s worse is recent weather patterns have brought drier air and wind, fanning the flames further.
It’s a perfect storm for what could become the state’s most devastating natural disaster ever.
All politics aside, this is on par with the three hurricanes from which the US is still recovering.
We can only hope things turn around quickly before more lives are lost.
In the end, 2017 is already going down as the most devastating on record…and it’s not over yet.
Here’s more from Washington Examiner…
While wildfires are still burning powerfully in parts of Northern California, some of the tens of thousands of evacuees are getting antsy to return to homes that aren’t under immediate threat. Others want to see if they still have homes to return to.
But authorities are staying cautious in the face of blazes that have now killed at least 40 people and destroyed at least 5,700 homes.
“We’re on pins and needles,” Travis Oglesby, who evacuated from his home in Santa Rosa, said to Sonoma County Sheriff Robert Giordano on Saturday. “We’re hearing about looting.”
Although some evacuees were returning home in Mendocino County, the latest estimates were that about 100,000 people were under evacuation orders as the fires burned for a sixth day.
Plans were in the works to reopen communities, but they were not ready to be put into effect, said Dave Teter, a deputy director with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
