By The New York Times
LIVE UPDATES Updated Aug. 20, 2020, 11:12 p.m. ET
The evacuations have come amid a grueling heat wave, the coronavirus pandemic and air thick with smoke.
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A man living in Solano County was found dead on Thursday during a damage assessment, the sheriff said. At least two others have died in the firefighting effort.
The wildfires have burned through more than 350,000 acres.
The wildfires that continued to rip across Northern California on Thursday have forced 62,000 people from their homes and threaten evacuations for 100,000 more. Firefighters have struggled to contain the blazes, and massive smoke clouds have harmed the air quality.
A large group of fires burning in wine country west of Sacramento had grown to cover 131,000 acres, according to Cal Fire, the state’s fire authority. The agency said that, in all, nearly 350,000 acres have burned in Northern and Central California, with many fires sparked by lightning strikes in the high heat and then fanned by winds.
Those conditions helped new fires sprout across the state on Wednesday and Thursday, and caused other fires to merge, complicating efforts to contain the combined blazes. Almost two dozen major fires were reported on Wednesday, and more than 300 smaller ones.
A man who lived on Pleasants Valley Road in Solano County was found dead during a damage assessment on Thursday, Sheriff Tom Ferrara said in a Facebook video. And at least two others have died in the firefighting effort: A helicopter pilot on a water-dropping mission was killed in a crash in Fresno County, and a worker for Pacific Gas and Electric who had been clearing electrical lines was found unresponsive in his vehicle in Solano County.
The group of wildfires threatening Vacaville, called the L.N.U. Lightning Complex, has already destroyed more than 105 homes and other buildings. Cal Fire said 30,500 more buildings are under threat. Read more from The New York Times.
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