Wildfires in California have torched a record more than two million acres, said the state fire department, as an uncontrolled blaze forced many residents to flee their homes.
“In the past 33 years we have not seen a single year go over two million acres until this year,” said California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) spokeswoman Lynne Tolmachoff. “This is definitely record-breaking and we have not even come close to the end of fire season yet.”
At least seven people have died as a result of this year’s fires and some 3,800 structures have been damaged or destroyed, according to Cal Fire figures.
More than 14,100 fire fighters are battling 24 different wildfires as of Monday afternoon, the fire department said in a tweet.
Among those blazes was the Creek Fire, which started on Friday in steep and rugged terrain and has so far spread to 78,790 acres and is zero percent contained, according to Cal Fire. The department said on Twitter that 976 personnel were battling the fire, which had continued to grow ‘under extreme conditions’. Evacuation orders were in effect throughout southern California on Monday afternoon. In northern California, more than 200 people were airlifted to safety over the weekend. They were rescued by military helicopters, with dozens packed into a Chinook, a video shared by the California National Guard showed.
