Record-Setting Blazes Continue To Rip Through Northern California

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Flames from a fire in the LNU Lightning Complex leap above Butts Canyon Road on Sunday as firefighters work to contain the blaze in Lake County, Calif.

Noah Berger/AP

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Noah Berger/AP

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At least seven people have died as of this weekend when authorities discovered the body of a 70-year-old man in the remote Santa Cruz mountains area known as Last Chance.

That fire, known as the CZU August Lightning Complex, is scorching some 78,000 acres across San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties and has destroyed at least 231 structures. As of Monday morning, Cal Fire officials said the blaze is only 13% contained.

The largest of the three fire complexes, the LNU Lightning Complex, is covering more than 350,000 acres near the Napa Valley, making it the second-largest fire in state history. It has killed at least four people and destroyed 871 structures.

With only 22% of the blaze contained, Cal Fire officials are expecting the LNU Lightning Complex to spread as «fires continue to make runs in multiple directions, impacting multiple communities,» according to a statement Monday morning.

In Santa Clara and Alameda counties, another series of fires that make up the SCU Lightning Complex has grown to more than 347,000 acres, Cal Fire reports. That fire is only 10% contained.

Firefighting crews from across the western U.S., military aircraft and over 200 National Guard troops have joined the fight since the weekend. There are some 14,000 firefighters, 2,400 fire engines and 95 aircraft working in tandem to fight the fires.

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In Southern California, firefighters battling rough terrain, hot weather and potential thunderstorms kept an 11-day-old blaze steady at just under 50 square miles near Lake Hughes in the Los Angeles County mountains, the AP reported.

As the fires force more residents to flee, some evacuated homes have been burglarized. At least 13 people have been arrested on suspicion of looting or planning to loot in Santa Cruz County, officials said.

The COVID-19 pandemic is also complicating evacuation orders as officials scramble to find space for residents who were forced from their homes. As NPR’s Lauren Sommer reports for our Newscast unit, many evacuees are being sent to hotels to allow for social distancing in shelters.

Others are struggling to find shelter after being financially devastated by the pandemic. Earlier this week, Tina Marie Carini, her husband and two sons had to flee from their trailer in North Santa Cruz County.

Both she and her husband are out of work and concerned about recovering financially now that the wildfires have struck their neighborhood, Carini told KQED’s Hannah Hagemann. The family has had to move locations three times in the past week.

«We’re just hoping we don’t lose everything, and we’re tired of running,» Carini says. «We’re just so tired.»