Fire-ravaged California sees easing of weather conditions

Thunderstorms rumbled over northern California again on Monday, but the fire-ravaged region around San Francisco Bay was largely spared from a new onslaught of incendiary lightning strikes like those that sparked hundreds of blazes last week.

Firefighting crews already stretched to their limits had braced for another potentially catastrophic spate of dry lightning on Sunday and Monday.

Instead, the region saw a few hundred, while cloudy skies, cooler temperatures and rising humidity provided a welcome respite that helped fire crews consolidate some gains they made over the weekend.

Still, the squall of monster-sized wildfires — including the second- and third-largest on record in California — remained far from under control, with 240,000 people under evacuation orders or warnings across the state.

Rebecca Pledger, 64, in Middletown, about 150km north of San Francisco, said she and her husband chose to disregard evacuation orders for the time being, hoping their home would be spared as they stayed put to attend to their chickens, horse and dogs.

On Wednesday night, the northeastern edge of a gigantic blaze dubbed the LNU Lightning Complex fire had burnt to within 5km of their property.

“We'll leave when we see the flames coming down the hill,” she said. They were ready to flee at a moment's notice in their already packed pickup truck.

Much of northern California, from the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the Pacific Coast, remained under a “red flag” alert for extreme fire hazards on Monday.

Close to 300 lightning strikes sparked 10 blazes Sunday night into Monday morning.

“We are dealing with different climate conditions that are precipitating fires the likes of which we have not seen in modern recorded history,” governor Gavin Newsom said.

Wildfires ignited by more than 13,000 lightning strikes all across northern and central California since August 15 have killed at least seven people and destroyed more than 1,200 homes and other structures. Collectively, the blazes have charred more than485,620ha.

“We are essentially living in a megafire era,” CalFire Santa Clara unit chief Jake Hess told reporters, noting that the state has endured four of the five largest wildfires in its history during the past three years.

Evacuees began returning on Monday to homes and vineyards torched by the LNU Complex wildfire.

More than 14,000 firefighters, some who have been forced to work gruelling 72-hour shifts, were assigned to the wildfires, with 91 fire crews travelling from seven states and National Guard troops arriving from four states, Newsom said.