California is experiencing one of its worst wildfires
The Friday firestorm involved about two dozen major incidents.
A series of lighting strikes on Friday has exacerbated a wildfire in California. The fire killed six people, incinerated nearly 700 buildings, and jeopardized nearly 14,000 firefighters who are currently working to control the flames.
The fire is said to be one of the worst that California has ever seen and is currently raging between San Francisco and Sacramento.
READ MORE: At least 5 people killed in Northern California wildfires
The Friday firestorm involved about two dozen major incidents which spread across other local jurisdictions in California, Reuters reported.
As reported by USA Today, the thunder hit the forest areas and the dry humid air evaporated the rainwater that could have reached the ground. Had this water not evaporated, it had the potential to stop the fire from spreading.
In addition to the lack of rainwater, the fire was easily spread due to the persistent heat in California and low humidity, which made the forest dry and crunchy, USA Today reported.
Firefighters, in the words of fire marshal Jay Tracey of Fresno, were “scrambling for bodies” in the 314,000 acre spread.
The southern part of the fire is being contained by firefighters, but winds are fanning the flames, making the fire harder to put out. This is also true in the northwest part of California where towns like of Healdsburg and Guernville grow wine, according to Tracey.
As the fire continues to burn away the state’s winery resources, the fire department’s resources are growing scarce, with many firefighters being stationed at home.
One pilot, who was on a water-dropping mission in central California, died Wednesday when his helicopter crashed.
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The damage from the fire is likely to continue over the weekend with more lightning storms expected, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CalFire) spokesman Daniel Berlant said.
As theGrio previously reported, Gov. Gavin Newsom called the flames a clear sign of climate change in a last-minute video recorded for the Democratic National Convention from a forest near Watsonville after he visited an evacuation center.
On Saturday, the fire has already doubled in size since it began.
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