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The death toll from Northern California's wildfires now stands at 15, officials say, with a total of nine confirmed fatalities in Sonoma County. The Sonoma County Sheriff's Office said on its Twitter page that the number of dead had increased from seven to nine. Three others are dead in Mendocino County, two more in Napa and one in Yuba, officials say. In Sonoma County, more than 200 people have been reported missing, and 45 of those have since been located, officials said.
The fires have burned 115,000 acres statewide and destroyed at least 2,000 homes and businesses, Cal Fire Ken Pimlott said Tuesday. More than 4,000 emergency workers have been deployed to help battle the fires, including a massive effort at McClellan Air Park, where a record 45 missions were flown Monday that dumped 266,000 acres of retardant on the blazes.
Vice President Mike Pence visited the state's emergency operations center at Mather Air Park Tuesday and announced that President Trump had approved the state's request for federal assistance in the counties of Butte, Lake, Mendocino, Napa, Nevada, Sonoma, and Yuba.
Also at CNN, The Washington Post, KQED, LA Times, and NPR.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday October 11 2017, @01:59PM
It sucks for those guys, to be sure. But that area is dry to begin with. And after how many years of drought it was even worse. I was in Petaluma a year ago and it felt like the place would go up if you stared at it too intensely.
If you choose to live in the chaparral, sooner or later a bushfire will claim your property. If you're smart, you heed evacuation warnings and keep your life, and get insurance so you can recoup the damages to your property. Natural disasters are a fact of life there, and elsewhere. As much as we like to think we are masters of the Earth we are still nothing next to its power.
Washington DC delenda est.