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California Firefighters Aided As Winds Ease, Lightning Doesn't Strike

VOA News

   Firefightersbattlingthe record-setting blazes innorthernCaliforniagot a
   huge break Monday whengusty windseased,andamajorpredictedlightning
   stormfailed tostrike butofficialssay the dangerisfar from over.

   More that 600 wildfires, most ignitedbyearlierlightning storms
   andaggravatedbyhot,windyblowing over drylandscapesare burninglargely
   northof San Francisco.

   Officials estimate nearly half-a-million hectares of land has burned so
   far -- an area bigger than the state of Rhode Island.

   At least seven deaths have been reported and manyresidentswere forced
   to flee their homes withlittlebut the clothes they were wearing.
   Somepeoplehave beenallowed back to see what is left of their houses and
   businesses.

   The fires have cast a blanket of smoke and haze over SanFrancisco.

   "We are in a different climate and we are dealing with different
   climate conditions that are precipitating fires the likes of which we
   have not seen in modern recorded history,"CaliforniaGovernorGavin
   Newsom said Monday.

   Record-breaking heat has baked parts of the state this summer,
   includinga54-degreeCelsius temperature in Death Valley last week.

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