More than a dozen wildfires roared through Northern California on Monday, killing at least 10 people, destroying at least 1,500 homes and businesses, and forcing the evacuation of up to 20,000 people.
Janet Upton, a deputy director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, told reporters that at least 15 fires had destroyed roughly 1,500 residential and commercial structures and had burned about 94,000 acres across eight counties since late Sunday night.
At least 10 people had been killed as of Monday evening, she said: seven in Sonoma County, two in Napa County and one in Mendocino County.
Gov. Jerry Brown issued emergency declarations for Butte, Lake, Mendocino, Napa, Nevada, Orange, Sonoma and Yuba Counties in California’s wine country.
“This is really serious. It’s moving fast. The heat, the lack of humidity and the winds are all driving a very dangerous situation and making it worse,” Brown said at a Monday morning news conference. “It’s not under control by any means. But we’re on it in the best way we know how.”
This year has been extreme for wildfires. More than 8 million acres, about 2.5 million more than in an average year, have burned, according to the National Interagency Coordination Center.
The severity comes after more than 10 million acres burned in 2015, the worst fire season in decades.
But this year’s fires are different, and more urgent, because they are increasingly burning close to homes and people as the West becomes more populated.
The largest wildfire in Los Angeles history forced hundreds of residents to evacuate this month, with the fire burning more than 5,000 acres.
These wildfires have caught the attention of Congress, which must deal with funding challenges at the U.S. Forest Service, the largest agency that responds to wildfires.
Democrats and Republicans representing states affected by wildfires say the problem demands the same attention as recent hurricanes, as fires have become larger, more frequent, deadlier and costlier, forcing the Forest Service to borrow from other government accounts when money runs out.
Under current law, forest fires are not treated the same as other disasters such as hurricanes. That forces the Forest Service to take money from accounts dedicated to preventative maintenance, such as clearing underbrush.
The White House last week issued to Congress a disaster relief request for Puerto Rico that also includes money for wildfires. The Trump administration is seeking $576.5 million for wildfire suppression funding.
In addition, multiple bills have been introduced in Congress to address the funding problem, but lawmakers can’t find consensus on a path forward.
Some Republicans are pushing for any funding to be matched by forest management reforms that they say will address the root causes of fires and prevent them from being started in the first place.
