Newsom Declares State of Emergency in Five California Counties
California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency due to wildfire in five counties on Sunday.
The counties, as stated in the Newsom's statement, are Fresno, Madera, Mariposa, San Bernardino, and San Diego. The statement can be found on the California government's website.
Newsom also assured that the state of California had secured a Presidential Major Disaster Declaration. This will help with the state of emergency response amid the wildfires.
The state of emergency declaration was prompted by Creek Fire that started on Friday night. It burned down around 45,000 acres, forcing evacuations and road closures in central California.
Eight people were killed in the fires, and some 3,000 structures have been burned down. The wildfires lasted for about three weeks across the state, said a Reuters report.
Over 200 people had to be evacuated via airlift overnight. They were trapped in a fast-moving wildfire that cut off the only road out of the Mammoth Pool Reservoir.
"We had to splash water on our hair because our hair was catching on fire," evacuee Rylee Zukovsky told New York Times. She said it took 12 hours before she was rescued.
Zukovsky said none of the evacuees knew that helicopters were coming. "The Chinook just flew out of the smoke," she said.
Other fires linked to the declaration were the El Dorado fire in San Bernardino and the Valley Fire in San Diego.
California Gets More Help
The state of emergency declaration will help the state quickly add resources to fight the fire and keep people safe.
California has also secured Fire Management Assistance Grants to support their response to the wildfires. Fires are burning in Santa Clara, Stanislaus, Santa Cruz, San Mateo, Napa, Nevada, Lake, Solano, Yolo, and Monterey counties.
According to ABC 7, there are currently some 800 firefighters battling the fire. They haven't caught much of a break lately as the state's heatwave only added to the size of fires.
Heat, winds, and dry brush push many fires to explode and are still at 0% containment.
Heat Records Broken Through California
The year 2020 is one of the worst years for wildfire in California. In terms of acres burned, it is the worst one yet.
The state recently broke its record for land scorched statewide on Sunday. According to Cal Fire Capt. Richard Cordova, there have been over two million acres burned all over the state.
"This is crazy. We haven't even got into the October and November fire season, and we've broken the all-time record," Cordova said in a CNN report.
It was of great concern to Cal Fire, as they need to get breaks after battling the wildfires.
Other than the land burned down by fires, even heat records have been slashed. According to an alert from National Weather Service, at least 10 heat records have been surpassed this weekend.
The state is at the hottest for more than half a century, the alert said.
In Los Angeles, where there are at least two fires still burning, temperatures are set at 121 degrees Sunday in Woodland Hills.
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