California wildfires: Two dead as state battles over 300 blazes

Two people have been killed fighting lightning-sparked California wildfires, and tens of thousands have evacuated homes as the state scrambles to find more firefighters.

Crews worked in blistering heat to beat back wildfires that have ignited across northern California, sending thousands from their homes, halting traffic on major roads and killing a utility worker and a pilot on a firefighting mission.

Hundreds of fires were burning across California, including 23 major fires. Governor Gavin Newsom blamed "extraordinary weather" and "all of these lightning strikes" for the extent of the situation.

He said the state has recorded nearly 11,000 lightning strikes in 72 hours and knows of 367 fires.

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Authorities are warning all 40 million state residents to be ready to evacuate, if necessary.

In central California, a pilot died after crashing his helicopter about an hour from New Coalinga Municipal Airport while dropping water in western Fresno County.

The pilot, whose name has not been released, was working with Guardian Helicopters, based in Fillmore, which had a contract with CalFire to provide emergency services as needed, officials said.

A PG&E utility worker also died helping first responders, according to a CalFire spokeswoman.

Up to seven people were injured in a fire in Stanislaus County, southeast of San Francisco, sheriff Jeff Dirkse told the Sacramento Bee.

One had major burn injuries, and all were taken by ambulance for treatment, he said.

Evacuation orders

Two fires in Solano County prompted evacuation orders for 8,000 residents near the Russian river. In Healdsburg, with a population of about 12,000, people were warned late on Wednesday to be ready to flee.

Ash and smoke filled the air in San Francisco, which is surrounded by wildfires to the north, east and south.

The LNU Lightning Complex fires are made up of several fires in five counties north of San Francisco, including in Vacaville, a city of about 100,000 people between San Francisco and Sacramento. The fires covered an area nearly 10 times larger than New York's Manhattan island.

Nearby Travis Air Force Base ordered non-mission essential personnel to evacuate.

The flames jumped the Interstate 80 motorway on Wednesday afternoon, briefly blocking traffic in both directions.

Several thousand people in the small communities of Angwin and Deer Park were ordered to evacuate due to the LNU Complex.

Police and firefighters warned residents before dawn to evacuate as flames encroached on Vacaville. At least 50 structures were destroyed there, including some homes, and 50 were damaged.

“It was the scariest thing I’ve ever seen, the heat, and it came so fast,” Stacy Kline, a resident of Fairfield, near Vacaville, whose rural home was saved by her husband, friends and firefighters, told local television station ABC7 News.

SCU Lightning Complex

In eastern San Francisco Bay, a cluster of 20 separate lightning-sparked fires called the SCU Lightning Complex was threatening about 1,400 structures in rugged terrain with dense brush. The fires have torched 344sq km. To the south of San Francisco in San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties, about 22,000 people were ordered to evacuate because of a fire in dense wooded parkland.

"This is an incredibly emotional and stressful time for most of us who've endured a number of wildfires over the last few years," said Sonoma County sheriff Mark Essick.

In southern California, an eight-day-old blaze grew to nearly 106sq km near Lake Hughes in the northern Los Angeles County mountains.

Chewing through century-old fir, oak and pine, the fire continued to be a threat to 4,570 structures after already destroying a dozen. -AP/Reuters