Los Angeles: In the last 24 hours, firefighters have responded to some 330 fires raging across California, Governor Gavin Newsom said.
The update came on Monday as the latest Getty Fire in West Los Angeles forced 10,000 residents, including multiple celebrities living near Hollywood, to evacuate, and the Kincade Fire, which broke out northeast of Geyserville in Sonoma County on the night of October 23, continued to rage across Northern California, reports Xinhua news agency.
At the time of the press conference held at the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) on Monday, the Kincade Fire had burned more than 267 sq.km, and was 5 per cent contained, according to local media.
So far, there has been no report of any death in the wildfires that broke out over the past 24 hours, local media said. Despite the high figures, Newsom said that this year’s fire season was not the worst in recent years, “though it may feel like it”.
“We’re entering the peak part of fire season that is very familiar to us in California, but not people out of state.
“Most people think about fire season as part of the summer… I’ll remind folks the Camp Fire and Woolsey Fire, in Northern and Southern California, occurred in the first week of November, so we are very vigilant in this moment. The winds are vexing and are the most (complex) part of this fire. But the good news is the winds are resting,” he added.
Last year’s Camp Fire and Woolsey Fire were both among the ten most devastating blazes in California’s history, especially the Camp fire, which wiped out the town of Paradise in Butte County, killing 86 residents.
Director of Cal OES Mark Ghilarducci said more than 10,000 personnel were working across the state to fight both the Kincade Fire and the Getty Fire. Meanwhile, the Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), the main electricity power supplier in California, announced on Monday evening that it will conduct a new round of Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) from Tuesday.
The move, which will impact a total of 605,000 customers across 29 counties, was scheduled to last till Thursday. The company said the a measure designed to reduce the threat of wildfires that could be sparked by lines brought down in gusting winds.