WEB DESK
Governor of California Gavin Newsom has declared a statewide emergency as wildfires, whipped up by fierce winds, continue to sweep through the area.
Some 180,000 people in the north have been ordered to leave their homes and roads around Santa Rosa were packed with cars as people tried to flee.
Tens of thousands of homes are under threat from the wildfires.
The biggest blackouts in the state’s history have already left a million people without electricity.
Power companies are trying to stop damaged cables from triggering new fires.
Another million people are expected to lose their supplies in the hours ahead.
– ‘Largest evacuation in memory’ –
“This is the largest evacuation that any of us at the Sheriff’s Office can
remember. Take care of each other,” the Sonoma County sheriff’s office
tweeted.
Authorities said the area would remain under dangerous red flag conditions
until Monday morning.
“Things will improve as we head into Monday and Tuesday but we need to be
resilient as it looks like we have another north wind event, another dry
event that is going to impact the region Tuesday night into Wednesday,” a
spokesman for the National Weather Service told a news conference.
A fire official warned that should the flames continue spreading west and
jump over a major freeway — the 101 — that could prove even more
catastrophic, as that region hasn’t had any fires since the 1940s.
“The fuels in that area are extremely dense, they are extremely old and
decadent and they are extremely dry,” he said, referring to combustible
material, including shrubs and trees that feed a fire.