Despite Cool Coastal Weather Heat And Wind Tax 13K Firefighters

There are smoky skies all over Northern California from multiple wildfires burning this week, but the Bay Area Air Quality Management District says that onshore breezes will help clear out skies over much of the East Bay and South Bay.

Coastal areas will continue to enjoy comparably low fire dangers as the marine layer moves in and out each night, but the North Bay may continue to be impacted as triple-digit inland temperatures will tax firefighting resources throughout the state.

Forecasters at the National Weather Service are expecting 25 to 30 mph winds at higher inland elevations. It's unclear, however, how those winds will affect the wildfires burning in Mendocino, Lake and Shasta Counties.

They were expecting wetter, cooler weather in Tuesday's six- to 10-day outlook, but those conditions are not expected to help much. An estimated 320,000 acres have been burned in 16 major fires so far this fire season, state officials said this morning at a multi-agency news conference with Gov. Jerry Brown in Sacramento County.

"Currently we have thousands of state, local and federal firefighters on the line," said Mark Ghilarducci, director of the Governor's Office of Emergency Services. "Over 13,000."

"We've also reached out to our neighboring states, and out of country as well," he said.

• California Wildfires: 10,000 Firefighters Continue Battle

The California Highway Patrol is also responding to the fires to help with traffic control and road closures.
The National Guard has deployed a variety of equipment and roughly 1,200 personnel to help provide military support to civil authorities by helping to prevent looting and repopulate formerly evacuated areas.
Cal Fire Chief Ken Pimlott called it a "fire siege."

"This fire challenge is not just limited to California," Pimlott said. "The entire western United States, including south into Texas, is experiencing significant fire conditions."

"There are over 27,000 firefighters on the fire lines throughout the western United States, so almost half of those are right here in California," he added.

• Firefighters At Carr Fire Lower Cemetery Flag To Half-Staff

The governor called it a tremendous effort.

"It is very serious," Brown said. "We've seen the lives that have been lost, and I express my sympathy for that."

"Whatever resources are needed, we're putting them there," Brown said. "We did allocate money in the budget for these kind of contingencies."

There are several major fires burning in Northern California today, the largest of which include 115,538-acre Carr Fire, which has destroyed more than 1,030 structures in the Redding area, as well as the
90,912-acre Mendocino Complex fires, which has destroyed more than 10 residential structures in the areas around Ukiah and Lakeport.

By Bay City News

Photo courtesy Renee Schiavone/ Patch