State of emergency declared as California wildfires rage

AFP, Healdsburg, US : Thousands of firefighters battled into the early hours yesterday, losing ground to the huge blaze burning through the famed Sonoma wine region in northern California.

California’s governor declared a statewide emergency on Sunday as the wind-driven Kincade Fire spread to more than 34,000 acres (14,000 hectares), forcing residents to flee.

In Los Angeles, meanwhile the local fire department issued mandatory evacuation orders after a “very dynamic” brush fire broke out west of a major highway, US 405, near The Getty museum.

Refugees from the Kincade blaze, the largest of more than a dozen burning throughout the state, recalled hasty departures as they waited it out in the safety of a community center in Petaluma, California.

“The police came with loudspeakers. We weren’t expecting it,” said Kathy Amundson, who had to get her 90-year-old mother Joy into a wheelchair and then into the car for the trip out.

“We smelled smoke, we couldn’t see it,” she said. “Looks like our home is safe but the fear is wind blowing ambers and then it starts new fires.

”In this file photo taken on Sunday, firefighters battle the Kincade Fire along Chalk Hill Road in Healdsburg, California. AFP photo