California Fires Live Updates: Thousands of Homes in Danger as Blazes Spread

Northern California is threatened by fire, heat and smoke.

Wildfires continued to rip across Northern California early Thursday, as the state struggled to contain the blazes and to help thousands of people who are fleeing their homes amid a grueling heat wave, the coronavirus pandemic and unsafe air thick with smoke.

The largest group of fires, in wine country west of Sacramento, doubled in size Wednesday to 124,000 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 Wednesday and Thursday, and caused other fires to merge, complicating efforts to contain the combined blazes. Almost two dozen major fires were reported Wednesday, and more than 300 smaller ones. Evacuation orders have affected thousands of people in Northern California. 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 25,000 more buildings are under threat.

At least two people have died in the firefighting effort. One was a helicopter pilot on a water-dropping mission who was killed in a crash in Fresno County on Wednesday. Another was a worker for Pacific Gas & Electric who died in Solano County