At least 180 homes were destroyed by a wildfire in Northern California's Lake County that raced through dry brush and exploded in size within hours, officials said Sunday. The devastation comes after a separate wildfire to the southeast destroyed at least 81 homes.
Mark Ghilarducci, California's emergency chief, says this summer's fires are the most volatile he has seen in 30 years of emergency response work. He says the main cause behind the fast-spreading fires is dry conditions from the four-year drought.
Ghilarducci says fire and emergency services operations are "stretched" and that California has asked for help from Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Colorado and Washington state. He says Nevada has already sent fire crews and aircraft.
California Department of Forest Protection spokesman Daniel Berlant says wind gusts that reached up to 30 miles per hour sent embers raining down on homes and made it hard for firefighters to stop the Lake County blaze from advancing. Four firefighters were injured Saturday while battling the flames.
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