More than 350 wildfires are currently raging across California.
Cal Fire, the state’s forestry and fire protection department, said Wednesday that over 300,000 acres have been burned. Tens of thousands have been ordered to evacuate their homes.
“My recommendation is that all the citizens in California be ready to go if there is a wildfire,” Cal Fire spokeswoman Lynnette Round said Wednesday. “Residents have to have their bags packed up with your nose facing out your driveway so you can leave quickly. Everybody should be ready to go, especially if you’re in a wildfire area.”
There are 367 wildfires in total. Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a press conference Wednesday that 23 of those fires are considered major.
The fires were predominantly caused by the nearly 11,000 lightning strikes that have ravaged Northern California in the last three days.
The state’s residents have been experiencing an extreme heat wave in recent days, making conditions ripe for the blazes. When lightning strikes, dry fields and brush are fuel fires.
With so many blazes in different locations, firefighters are overwhelmed.
One couple in Vacaville told CNN that when fire officials were notified of the fire approaching their home, they were informed that there was nothing that could be done. All available trucks were being utilized at another fire. “[Firefighters] couldn’t do anything, they just had to watch it burn,” Marci said. “They had no trucks to take out there.”
