China News Service, August 23. According to US media reports, the "LNU Lightning Complex Fire" in northern California has developed into the second largest wildfire in the state's history, spreading over 314,000 acres (approximately approximately). 1270 square kilometers), resulting in at least 6 deaths.
On August 19, 2020, local time, in Vacaville, California, USA, wildfires spread and destroyed houses and trees, causing rare fire tornadoes. The picture shows wildfires raging and firefighters at the scene of the fire.
According to the ABC local station, this area is roughly equivalent to the entire city of Los Angeles, or 10.5 San Francisco.
"The entire LNU fire is now the second largest wildfire in California's history," said Sean Kavanov, the accident commander of the California Forestry and Fire Department (Cal Fire). The largest wildfire in California history was the Mendocino Fire, which burned more than 459,000 acres in 2018.
According to the American Chinese website, the wildfire has so far killed at least 6 people, injured 43 firefighters and civilians, burned more than 500 houses, and evacuated more than 170,000 people. California Governor Newsom said firefighters are fighting in 560 lines of fire in the state.
On August 19, 2020, local time, in Vacaville, California, USA, wildfires spread and destroyed houses and trees, causing rare fire tornadoes. The picture shows animals scorched by wildfires.
According to a report in the San Francisco Chronicle, the White House stated on the 22nd that “U.S. President Donald Trump announced that a major natural disaster has occurred in California and instructed to provide federal assistance for fire suppression work that began on August 14.”
It is reported that many of these forest fires are triggered by lightning. California has experienced consecutive dry thunderstorms this week, with more than 12,000 thunderstorms in the past three days alone, the worst in the past 20 years. Weather forecasts warn that there will be more thunderstorms this weekend.
California was struggling to cope with a rare heat wave before the wildfire went out of control. In order to cope with the sudden increase in power demand, the authorities have implemented district rotation and limited power supply.
In addition, California is also one of the worst-hit areas of the new crown epidemic, which has increased the difficulty of evacuation and resettlement of residents. The California Forest Fire Department said that tens of thousands of people were forced to evacuate the rural areas of San Mateo and Santa Cruz, but in order to comply with epidemic prevention measures, including limiting the number of people gathered indoors, proper shelters are harder to find.