CALIFORNIA—The death toll from the three wildfires reached a total of seven people over the weekend.
The assistant deputy director of California’s Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, noted that statewide there have been more than 13,000 lighting strikes since mid-August and more than 1.2 million acres burned. Each of the three large wildfires surrounding the Bay Area where started as a result of lightning strikes.
The fires led to the evacuation of nearly 250,000 people, destroyed more than 1,200 buildings, and deployed approximately 14,000 firefighters.
The seventh person to die was a 70-year-old man discovered in his home in a remote area in the Santa Cruz mountains called Last Chance.
The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy, Chris Clark, noted the discovery of the man’s body is a reminder of the importance of residents to evacuate under evacuation orders in fire danger zones.
“This is one of the darkest periods we’ve been in with this fire,” said Clark.
Within a week the fire in wine country north of San Francisco and another fire in the southeastern part of the city have grown to be two of the three largest fires in the state’s history. Both fires have burned more than 500 square miles.
Wine country fires are more destructive and deadly, destroying 845 buildings and homes and killing five people.
Cal Fire Spokesperson Brice Bennett noted on Sunday, August 23, “You could overlay half of one of these fires and it covers the entire city of San Francisco.”
On August 24, firefighters noted humidity levels rose and lightning strikes ceased. The warning for dry lightning and gusty winds was lifted in the San Francisco Bay Area on Monday morning. .
Billy See, Cal Fire’s Incident Commander for the complex fires burning south of San Francisco, noted “Mother Nature’s helped us quite a bit.”
