California fires: firefighters work to contain two of the largest blazes as 7,000 others burn – live

Good morning from the West Coast, this is Kari Paul, logging on to write about the fires raging about 40 miles from our Oakland office. Stand by for updates.

• The two largest fires in California grew slightly overnight, and 7,000 other fires are still burning in the state, but officials were optimistic that favorable weather conditions could help them to control the blazes.

•Firefighters at the CZU Lightning Complex fires, near Santa Cruz, “had success” in tackling the blaze on Monday, operations section chief Mark Brenton said. “We’re going to see for the next few days that same success,” he added.

•The SCU Lightning Complex covered 363,772 acres at 6am, officials said. Firefighters now have 15% of the blaze under control. The LNU Lightning Complex, north of San Francisco, occupies 352,913 acres, but firefighters have contained 27%.

Lake Berryessa, 40 miles west of Sacramento, became a sanctuary for people fleeing cities during the coronavirus epidemic.

Now much of the pretty town, which sits on an eponymous lake, has been ravaged by fire, turning the “lovely greenery into black and ashy swaths of land”, according to the San Francisco Chronicle:

The official damage to the area surrounding Lake Berreyssa is still unclear, but Sandy Storck, Chief of the Capell Valley Fire Station, said she knew of quite a few neighborhoods that were pretty much gone. The timing couldn’t have been worse, she said.

“People were just finding this as a fun area during COVID,” she said. “But now everything is burned.”

The two largest fires in California grew slightly overnight, Cal Fire said, although firefighters have managed to contain the same proportion of each blaze.

The SCU Lightning Complex, already the second biggest fire in California’s history, is now 363,772 acres, Cal Fire said, up around 3,000 acres since Monday night. The fire, south-east of San Francisco, is 15% controlled.

The LNU Lightning Complex, north of San Francisco, has grown to around 352,913 acres since Monday. Firefighters have now contained 27% of the fire, compared to 25% yesterday.

The fires in California pose a real threat to some of the state’s rare ecosystems and wildlife – including redwood trees and the endangered California condors.

“Biologists are watching closely as the blazes encroach on old-growth redwood trees in Northern and Central California, where some giants are more than 1,000 years old and are known by individual names,” NPR reports:

While some seem to have been spared, Big Basin State Park — the oldest state park in California — saw significant fire damage.

Still, biologists say there are reasons to be hopeful, because redwoods have incredibly thick bark that can withstand wildfires. Even fully charred trees can sprout again.

[…]

For the endangered California condors, recovery is still tenuous. In 1987, just 27 birds remained. Scientists brought them into captivity to begin a breeding program. Today, there are about 100 condors free-flying on California’s Central Coast.

Firefighters expect to see success in the coming days in tackling the CZU Lightning Complex, near Santa Cruz, officials said this morning.

In a press conference IMT 3 operations section chief Mark Brenton said:

“We had success yesterday and the day before to a point, [and] we’re going to see for the next few days that same success.

“The weather’s going to start changing towards the end of the week, we’re preparing for that, we’re adjusting for that, but I think we have a very good plan.”

Jonathan Cox, deputy chief of Cal Fire San Mateo division, said that as of 6am PT the CZU Lightning Complex spanned 78,869 acres.

“The good news is we continue to make progress on containment, and we’re up to 17% containment this morning,” Cox said.

He said 330 structures have been destroyed by the fire, and another 25,000 structures are threatened. Cox said 1,611 personnel are assigned to the fire.

California had cause for quiet optimism in its battle with deadly wildfires on Tuesday morning, as the state largely avoided predicted lightning storms and firefighters made progress in bringing one of the largest fires under control.

Seven people have died in the fires, which include two of the largest in California’s history, and at least 12,000 structures had been destroyed by Monday night.

Some 7,000 fires were still burning in California on Monday, but in the early hours of Tuesday firefighters made progress on containing the two largest fires.

The LNU Lightning Complex, currently burning through 351,817 acres of wine country, north of San Francisco, is 25% contained, the California department of forestry and fire protection (Cal Fire) said.

At 360,055 acres the SCU Lightning Complex, south-east of San Francisco, is the second largest fire in California’s history. Cal Fire said it is 15% contained.

Calmer weather on Monday helped firefighters in their bid to wrestle the blazes under control.

“With the clear air, we were able to fly a lot more aircraft,” said Mark Brunton, Cal Fire operations chief.

Helicopters dropped 200,000 gallons of water on the blaze, Brunton said, calling it “the best day yet”.