Firefighters from the Central Coast are helping fight the multiple fires burning in Northern California.
CAL FIRE San Luis Obispo has sent five engines to the Lane Fire in Tehama County and a communications unit to the Pawnee Fire in Lake County.
The Santa Barbara County Fire Department also has some crew members at the Pawnee Fire, as well as five engines pre-positioned in other areas around Northern California.
The Lane Fire has burned 3,829 acres and is 45 percent contained.
The Pawnee Fire is 11,500 acres and just 5 percent contained. Twenty-two buildings, including 12 homes, have been destroyed by the fire and another 600 remain threatened. About 1,500 people are under evacuation orders.
Officials say unusually hot weather, high winds and highly flammable vegetation turned brittle by drought helped fuel the fires, which began over the weekend. Those same conditions led to the state’s deadliest and most destructive fire year in 2017.
