California Gov. Declares State of Emergency Amid Blazing Wildfire, Secures Grant to Pay for 75 Percent of Damages
On Saturday, California Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. proclaimed a State of Emergency and called for the mobilization of the National Guard to the northern area of the state as wildfires continue to ravage the region.
The blazes have burned thousands of acres in El Dorado, Amador, Butte, Humboldt, Lassen, Madera, Mariposa, Mendocino, Modoc, Shasta and Siskiyou counties, according to a statement from Brown's office Saturday.
"As of Aug. 1, 2014, seventeen fires were burning throughout the State, including one that crossed over from the State of Oregon into California. These fires have burned thousands of acres of land and continue to burn," Brown said.
In January, a State of Emergency was declared because of the ongoing drought.
Brown said in the proclamation that the state has been using all its resources to battle the fire and will need to call on assistance from other states to continue to do so.
"The circumstances of these wildfires, by reason of their magnitude, are or are likely to be beyond the control of the services, personnel, equipment and facilities of any single local government and require the combined forces of a mutual aid region or regions to combat," Brown said in the statement.
Brown also secured a federal grant to cover 75 percent of the cost to fight a nearly 33-square-mile wildfire that started in Oregon and crossed into California, according to SF Gate.
"Recent (dry) lightning storms and high temperatures have further increased this risk and the spread of additional wildfires," Brown said. "I find that conditions of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property exists in Northern California due to these events."
The blazes threaten to burn thousands of more acres of land and force more evacuations of homes. The fire is also threatening to affect additional power plants.
Officials told SF Gate that the blaze had burned across 50 square miles of land by Saturday night, compared with 33 square miles earlier in the day.
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