No fewer than 10 people have been killed in a spate of wildfires fanned by strong winds in northern California’s wine country. The wildfires which started Sunday also destroyed hundreds of homes and businesses and chased some 20,000 people from their dwellings. Thousands of firefighters battled wind gusts in excess of 50 miles per hour (80 km/h) that rapidly spread 15 separate wildfires across some 73,000 acres, according to CalFire spokesman Daniel Berlant.
About 1,500 homes and commercial buildings have been destroyed throughout the region, Ken Pimlott, director of CalFire, said at a news conference. A separate wildfire on Monday torched at least a half-dozen homes in the affluent Anaheim Hills neighbourhood of Southern California’s Orange County, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of residents there, authorities said. That blaze erupted along a freeway off-ramp and spread quickly in gusty winds to scorch some 5,000 acres (1,600 hectares) in a matter of hours, fire officials said.
Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency for Napa, Sonoma and Yuba counties, encompassing some of the state’s prime wine-making areas, as the blazes raged unchecked and engulfed the region in thick, billowing smoke that drifted south into the San Francisco Bay area. Brad Alexander, a spokesman for the governor’s Office of Emergency Services, said the death toll could climb higher. The current tally constituted 10-year record for civilian wildfire fatalities in the state, dating back to 14 who lost their lives in a series of blazes that swept San Diego County and other parts of Southern California in October 2007, according to CalFire spokeswoman Janet Upton.
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