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California crews battle 12 big wildfires

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New concerns have developed at the explosive Caldor Fire southwest of Lake Tahoe.
Camera IconNew concerns have developed at the explosive Caldor Fire southwest of Lake Tahoe. Credit: AP

More than 13,500 firefighters are battling a dozen large California wildfires that have destroyed hundreds of homes and forced thousands of people to flee to safety.

Governor Gavin Newsom requested a presidential major disaster declaration for eight counties, California Office of Emergency Services director Mark Ghilarducci said.

Nearly 43,000 Californians were under under evacuation orders and more than 500 households were in shelters, he said.

New concerns have developed at the explosive Caldor Fire southwest of Lake Tahoe, the famed alpine lake straddling the California-Nevada state line and surrounded by peaks of the Sierra Nevada and resort communities.

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The Caldor Fire had become the nation’s number one priority for firefighting resources, said Chief Thom Porter, director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, known as Cal Fire.

California Western Wildfires
Camera IconCalifornia is one of a dozen mostly western US states where scores of large fires are burning. Credit: AP

The blaze has incinerated more than 430 square kilometres of El Dorado National Forest and continuing assessments showed 447 buildings destroyed. More than 17,000 structures were still under threat.

To the north, containment increased to 40 per cent at the Dixie Fire, which has burned more than 2926 sq km in the northern Sierra Nevada and southern Cascades.

Cal Fire 1259 buildings were destroyed and nearly 13,000 structures remained threatened.

In northern California, where most of the state’s blazes are burning, the seven-day outlook calls for moderate fire danger.

California’s fires were among more than 90 large blazes in the US on Monday, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

Those included several in northeastern Minnesota, one of which has spread quickly and prompted more evacuations.

The lightning-caused Greenwood Lake fire, which was detected on August 15, had burned nearly 36 square kilometres as of Monday.

Climate change will continue to make the weather more extreme and wildfires more destructive in the western US, scientists say.

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