Thousands of Californian fire crews are fighting wildfires which have forced hundreds of people to flee their homes across the state.
In the Santa Cruz Mountains, the Lockheed Fire has blackened close to 8 square miles of remote wilderness and prompted mandatory evacuations of the mountain communities of Swanton and Bonny Doon, which have about 2,400 residents and several wineries.
Lt. Gov. John Garamendi declared a state of emergency for Santa Cruz County as a step toward getting federal assistance for local governments and private property owners.
"We're entering the height of fire season in California. We need to prepare," he said in Davenport, a coastal town near the Lockheed Fire.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was out of state attending the funeral of his mother-in-law, Eunice Shriver, is scheduled to visit the fire zone for a briefing this morning.
The blaze started on Wednesday about 10 miles north of Santa Cruz. By Friday evening, it was 15 per cent contained, CalFire spokesman Daniel Berland. A change in winds has shifted the fire away from Bonny Doon, but a little closer to Swanton, he said.
The fire sent huge plumes of smoke across Monterey Bay. It damaged two small structures and was threatening more than 1,000 homes and buildings. There have been no reports of injuries. The cause is under investigation.
The steep, rugged terrain and dense vegetation has made it difficult to contain the blaze, so firefighters are focused on keeping flames away from homes, said Jim Stunkel, a battalion chief from San Jose.
The fire was moving toward Bonny Doon and more populated areas around Highway 9. As winds picked up Friday afternoon, officials worried the gusts could ignite more fires and force more evacuations.
Farther down the coast, about 2,000 firefighters battled a wildfire in the Los Padres National Forest that grew to nearly 108 square miles, said U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Maeton Freel.
About 250 homes and ranches in canyons and ridges near the La Brea Fire were under evacuation orders as the week-old blaze kept growing in northern Santa Barbara County.
In Alameda County, more than 300 firefighters were struggling to control a wind-driven grass fire that had grown to about 16 square miles near Tracy, said Aisha Knowles, a spokeswoman for the Alameda County Fire Department.
The Corral Fire was not threatening any structures but was moving toward the juncture of Interstate 5 and Interstate 580, where officials worried it could affect visibility and traffic. It was about 20 per cent contained, Knowles said.
In Yuba County north of Sacramento, two separate wildfires began yesterday. The blazes blackened a combined 1,000 acres near Lake Francis, destroyed one home, forced the evacuation of about 60 residences and knocked out power in the Sierra foothills town of Dobbins, according to CalFire spokeswoman Joann Cartoscelli. KOLO-TV in Nevada reported that smoke from the blaze was visible as far as Reno.
In far northern California, firefighters lifted evacuation orders issued accompanying a nearly two-square-mile fire burning near Lewiston, about 200 miles north of Sacramento. The Coffin Fire was 75 per cent contained, with containment expected today.
Trinity County District Attorney Michael Harper charged 60-year-old Brenda Eitzen of Los Molinos with two felonies and two misdemeanors alleging she negligently sparked the blaze by throwing away a lit cigarette on Wednesday. The charges could bring a maximum four-year prison term.
Eitzen, who has no criminal history, was staying at a drug rehabilitation shelter at the time of the fire, Harper said.
To the east, 10 rural homes remained evacuated as wind spread a fire in steep terrain near Burney. Firefighters were using bulldozers to cut fire lines around the nearly 11-square-mile blaze about 200 miles north of Sacramento.