Gov. Jerry Brown asks Trump for Major Disaster declaration in several California counties. [View all]
Wildfires that ignited late Sunday surged with explosive speed overnight and into Monday, cutting a path across Californias wine country that turned whole neighborhoods to ash and killed at least 10 people.
The property damage appeared to be among the worst seen in a fire in California. More than 1,500 buildings were destroyed and roughly 150 square miles scorched, fire officials said.
More than a dozen fires in Northern California across eight counties including Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino and Yuba were fanned by dry winds that gusted across a parched landscape faster than 50 miles an hour.
In Southern California, another blaze in Orange County burned at least seven homes.
Gov. Jerry Brown issued emergency proclamations for several counties and asked President Trump to declare a major disaster.
Officials said seven people died in Sonoma County, two in Napa County and one in Mendocino County.
About 170 people were treated for injuries, most of them smoke inhalation, hospital officials said. The Associated Press reported that two people were in critical condition.
A Sonoma County spokeswoman told The San Francisco Chronicle that dozens of people had been reported missing.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/10/us/california-today-california-in-flames.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur