Firefighters in southern California were battling to contain two new wildfires in the early hours of Thursday even as crews got more of a handle on blazes in Northern California as winds died down.
The Hillside Fire broke out in San Bernardino and quickly entered some neighbourhoods, prompting evacuations. It destroyed at least four homes. The 46 Fire started near the end of a police chase in Riverside County, quickly burning 75 acres and forcing evacuations.
The state’s governor, Democrat Gavin Newsom, said his administration had taken steps to obtain resources from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to bolster California’s fire-fighting capability.
“California and it’s federal, local and community partners are working in lockstep to meet the extraordinary challenges of the past two weeks,” he said in a statement.
The flames in Simi Valley have consumed 1,723 acres and area residents remained order a mandatory evacuation order.
Last month, Governor Newsom had said that in the last 24 hours, firefighters responded to some 330 fires raging across the country.
About 2,000 residents of Geyserville and the surrounding area threatened by the fire were evacuated and more than thousands of firefighters were assigned to battle the blaze with help of 10 helicopters and numerous air tankers.
On Thursday evening, the flames had spread to 0.8 sq.km within 20 minutes and scorched over 3.4 sq.km.
At least six structures were destroyed and another 15,000 more threatened by the fire.
Last year’s Camp Fire and Woolsey Fire were both among the ten most devastating blazes in California’s history, especially the Campfire, which wiped out the town of Paradise in Butte County, killing 86 residents.