Smoke continues to blanket the Bay Area after a record-breaking heat wave and lightning strikes sparked hundreds of fires burning throughout California.
Three people in Napa County have died, Cal Fire officials announced Thursday night, and one person in Solano County has died, County Sheriff Thomas Ferrara reported earlier in the day.
A PG&E worker was killed in the course of assisting fire efforts near Vacaville on Wednesday. The worker was clearing downed electrical infrastructure and was found unresponsive in his vehicle, a Cal Fire spokesman said.
Latest Developments
When many fires are burning close together Cal Fire authorities call them “fire complexes.” There are three lightning complex fires burning through the Bay Area now:
LNU Lightning Complex: Sonoma, Napa, Solano, Yolo, Lake counties SCU Lightning Complex: Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa, San Joaquin, Stanislaus counties CZU August Lightning Complex: San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties
LNU Lightning Complex
24-hour information line: 707-967-4207Cal Fire incident information pageCal Fire LNU Twitter Feed
The LNU complex of fires, ignited by a barrage of lightning strikes in Napa early Monday morning, consists of seven separate blazes burning in five different counties, including Sonoma, Napa, Solano and small sections of Yolo and Lake counties.
Update: Now 1,059 fire personnel are assigned to the #LNULightingComplex which is now 7 percent contained – it has burned 219K acres. @KQEDnews https://t.co/LaO2M00xmb
— Ted Goldberg (@TedrickG) August 21, 2020
Under-resourced is an under-statement: @CAL_FIRE says some 600 firefighters are battling the state's largest complex of fires, the #LNULightingComplex, which has burned 215 THOUSAND acres, destroyed closed to 500 structures and killed at least 4 people. https://t.co/AyDClNIJn9
— Ted Goldberg (@TedrickG) August 21, 2020
#LNULightningComplex – Incident Update – 08.21.2020 7am – 2 of 3 pic.twitter.com/eNhkk0pZ6d
— CAL FIRE LNU (@CALFIRELNU) August 21, 2020
SCU Complex
Information lines: 669-247-7431 and 916-618-3195Cal Fire incident information pageCal Fire SCU Twitter feed
The SCU Lightning Complex is approximately 20 separate fires broken into three zones: the Canyon Zone, the Calaveras Zone and the Deer Zone. The fires continue to burn in steep, rugged terrain in multiple locations across Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa, San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties.
#SCULightningComplex Incident Update 8/21/20 7AM pic.twitter.com/vdVqPO70KG
— CAL FIRE SCU (@calfireSCU) August 21, 2020
CZU Lightning Complex
Cal Fire information line: 831-335-6717Cal Fire incident information pageCal Fire CZU Twitter feed
The CZU August Lightning Complex consists of multiple smaller lightning-sparked fires in the Santa Cruz mountains which merged into a massive, dangerous blaze burning in Santa Cruz and San Mateo counties.
#LNULightningComplex – Evacuation Update – Sonoma County #CALFIRE#CALFIRELNU pic.twitter.com/BeOfmFy2m6
— CAL FIRE LNU (@CALFIRELNU) August 21, 2020
In San Mateo… Evacuation zones are in every town that are west of 35 all the up to highway 1. "Unfortunately we're seeing a lot of people come into these towns" asking tourists to leave the roads open for people to evacuate.
— Hannah Hagemann (@hannah_hagemann) August 21, 2020
"You might be wondering how long am I going to be away from my home? It could be potentially weeks, depending on what this fire does"
— Hannah Hagemann (@hannah_hagemann) August 21, 2020
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