Wildfires Char Northern Ca.: Inconvenient Truth of the Day

Wildfires Char Northern California: Inconvenient Truth of the Day

Wendy Cohen June 25, 2008 | 8:15 pm EST

SACRAMENTO, Ca. — Firefighters are making headway today against hundreds of blazes that have charred about 100,000 acres across Northern California in recent days, but are fearful of more lightning storms later this week.

Big fires continued to burn in rugged reaches of Mendocino, Butte and Monterey counties, and more than 2,000 homes remained threatened by approaching flame.

Fire crews from Nevada and Oregon are helping California firefighters battle hundreds of blazes that are darkening the sky over the San Francisco Bay area and Central Valley, leading public health officials to issue air-quality warnings.

The lightning-caused fires have charred tens of thousands of acres and forced hundreds of residents to flee their homes, though few buildings have been destroyed, said Daniel Berlant, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

According to the AP, More than 800 wildfires were set by a storm that unleashed nearly 8,000 lightning strikes across Northern California over the weekend.

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(photo: Environmental News Network)