Wildfires wreak havoc across northern California, killing 1

A firefighter battles a blaze near San Andreas, California. Wildfires have burned in the drought-stricken western state throughout the summer, destroying hundreds of homes and displacing thousands of people. AFP

SAN ANDREAS, United States—Firefighters on Monday battled devastating blazes in northern California that have reduced hundreds of homes to smoldering ruins and killed an elderly disabled woman unable to flee the flames.

Officials said the victim, who was not identified, died in the Cobb area of Lake County that has been especially hard hit by the wildfires.

“The resident was apparently unable to self-evacuate and responders were unable to make it to her home before the fire engulfed the structure,” the local sheriff’s office said.

READ: Deadly Northern California wildfire incinerates homes

It said rescuers had been flooded with calls Saturday from people asking for help getting out of their homes but were unable to reach the subdivision where the woman lived.

This marks the first civilian fatality in the wildfires that have devastated the western United States in recent months.

State disaster officials said the fast-moving infernos in northern California had consumed more than 100,000 acres (more than 50,000 hectares), forcing thousands to flee their homes.

Daniel Berlant, spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CalFire), said the blazes were still spreading due to winds.

“Winds are pushing south and there are new evacuations on the northern edge of the Valley Fire,” he said, referring to one of two areas that has been particularly devastated.

Among the hardest hit areas is Lake County, where the hamlet of Middletown was reduced to rubble by the flames that left an apocalyptic scene.

An AFP reporter who visited the town saw smoldering homes, melted vehicles and downed power lines.

“There is metal dripping off the cars because of the heat,” he said.

About a mile outside of the town lay a dead horse by the side of the road.

READ: California declares state of emergency as wildfires rage

Many residents in the region said the air was so thick with smoke, it was difficult to breath.

“It’s hazy with smoke and smells like ashes,” one resident, Rosendo Vallejo, tweeted.

The Valley Fire is located about 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of the state capital Sacramento and the second major inferno—the Butte Fire—about 100 miles to the east.

More than 11,000 firefighters are battling a dozen large fires across California.

‘Battle with nature’

Citing the widespread destruction, Governor Jerry Brown on Sunday declared a state of emergency for Lake and Napa counties—wine-producing regions north of San Francisco. Area schools were also closed on Monday.

“We’re really in a battle with nature, and nature is more powerful than we are,” Brown told reporters on Monday.

The recent fires have been fueled by tinder-dry conditions across the western United States, which has been starved for rain for the past several years.

The prolonged dry spell has been exacerbated by record high temperatures, which many environmentalists blame on global warming.

Nine times size of Manhattan

Berlant said the Valley fire has so far consumed 61,000 acres (24,685 hectares), and was only five percent contained, with 1,200 firefighters mobilized to tackle it.

The 4,400 firefighters combatting the Butte fire have had more success. That blaze has consumed some 70,000 acres, but is now about 30 percent contained.

Together the twin blazes have destroyed an area nine times the size of Manhattan.

About 6,400 homes are still threatened by these monster fires, Berlant said, although some evacuation orders linked to the Butte fire have been lifted.

Three other fires are scorching the earth in the neighboring state of Oregon and 10 further north in Washington state.

While temperatures are cooler than in the past week, conditions remain extremely dry, which allow fires to burn at a rapid rate.

Firefighters from across the country, as well as Australia and New Zealand, have lent a helping hand.

National Guard troops have also been called in.

Berlant said Cal Fire has spent more than $212 million since July 1 to fight fires under its jurisdiction.

The US Forest Service has spent an additional $1.31 billion battling blazes and says it is approaching its record expenditure, from 2002, of $1.65 billion.