California has endured more than 12,000 lightning strikes this week along with broken temperature records, resulting in 560 known wildfires spread across the state, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Friday.
What's new: The blazes are overwhelming the state's capacity to cope, with at least five deaths linked to the fires. Roughly 771,000 acres have been scorched and air quality is dismal, according to Cal Fire, the state’s firefighting agency.
The state of play: As of Friday morning, the largest blaze, dubbed the LNU Lightning Complex, charred over 200,000 acres, growing by 4,000 acres overnight.
- The CZU August Lightning Complex, has resulted in evacuation of more than 64,000 people, according to Cal Fire. In Santa Cruz and San Mateo counties, roughly 48,000 residents were required to evacuate.
- As of Thursday evening, the University of California at Santa Cruz was put under mandatory evacuation and declared a state of emergency.
- The River Fire in Monterey County was 9% contained as of Friday morning, as it consumed over 39,000 acres, prompting mandatory evacuations there, too.
- The LNU wildfire has torched over 219,000 acres throughout Sonoma, Lake, Napa and Solano counties and is 7% contained.
- The blaze near Vacaville, known as the Hennessey Fire and part of the LNU Lightning Complex, has been one of the most destructive, burning down homes and claiming the life of a PG&E worker assisting first responders.
- This same blaze has damaged hundreds. of structures and Cal Fire reported three civilian fatalities associated with the LNU Lightning Complex Thursday evening.
- Solano County's Travis Air Force Base, which has over 14,000 military members and civilian employees, said late Wednesday it ordered all "non-mission essential personnel" to evacuate, as the LNU Lightning Complex — or collection of many small fires — neared.
Newsom declared a statewide emergency Tuesday after the National Interagency Fire Center, which coordinates federal firefighting efforts, was put on its highest level of alert.
The big picture: While is only the beginning of the state’s wildfire season, the current collection of wildfires across California has proven particularly problematic amid the ongoing global pandemic.
More photos: Fires burn across California
Editor's note: This article has been updated with new details throughout.