Weather gives California fire crews a break
Dry lightning and gusty winds could have fanned fires - NBC's Steve Patterson reports
SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif. (KYMA, KECY/NBC News) - Three giants wildfires continue to burn in the San Francisco Bay area, but the weather is finally giving fire crews a break.
Fire commanders report higher humidity and lower winds Monday.
They also say they had to save six homeowners trapped by flames when they went to check on their properties. Everyone got out in that rescue mission, but elsewhere people were not so lucky.
Fire is blamed for at least seven deaths. Wildfires have scorched more than 1,800 square miles across the state.
Overnight, exhausted firefighters went back to the frontlines. They're locked in a desperate, weeklong struggle to contain hundreds of colossal wildfires. Flames have torched whole swaths of the state.
More than 14,000 firefighters work around the clock to contain some of the largest fires in California history.
At one point officials worried about the threat of fresh red flag warnings that could prime a new explosion of raging flames.
"How worried are you about this bad weather that is now moving in?" asks NBC's Steve Patterson.
"We're extremely concerned about what's taking place in the next couple of days with more dry lightning." replies Capt. Rich Cordova with Calfire.
More than 600 fires are burning over 1.4-million acres. It's a footprint bigger than the state of Rhode Island. And it's now visible from space.
In Northern California, monster flames devoured homes and forced the evacuation of thousands.
Christa Haefner lost most of her livestock as flames swept through her parents' ranch.
"I try not to focus on too much. Today was a very hard day." said Haefner.
Meanwhile...
"In shock. Just total shock."
Brian Branagan came back to find his home burned to the ground.
"It was just a wall of fire about 70 foot high above these trees, and I knew everything was gone at that point. It's just, it's just heartbreaking." said Branagan.
The National Guard will deploy about a dozen 20-person crews, along with air support, to fires across the state. Firefighters say they welcome all the help they can get.
