Fire officials in California are bracing for an unwelcome change in the weather that could spark new wildfires in the state.
More than 100,000 people have been forced to evacuate.SAN FRANCISCO -- A calm overnight allowed firefighters to make progress against a trio of massive wildfires burning in Northern California but they were girding for a weather system Sunday that will bring high winds and thunderstorms that could spark new fires and fan existing blazes that destroyed nearly 1,000 homes and other structures and forced tens of thousands to evacuate.
But there is concern about the weather and the thunderstorms that will bring high winds and “dry” lightning, a term used when such storms have little or no rain. Radar images from late morning showed lightning offshore and approaching the coast. Most of the damage was caused by the three complexes that were ravaging forest and rural areas in and around the San Francisco Bay Area. They have burned 1,175 square miles , destroyed almost 1,000 homes and other structures and killed five people, three of them who were found in a home in an area under an evacuation order.
The fire that burned Hanson’s home is the LNU Lightning Complex fire in wine country north of San Francisco. It’s been the most destructive, accounting for all the deaths and 845 destroyed homes and other buildings. It and a fire burning southeast of the Bay Area are among the five largest fires in state history, with both burning more than 500 square miles .
Fire officials, meanwhile, have struggled to get enough resources to fight the biggest fires because so many blazes are burning around the state.
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