California wildfires torch area bigger than Rhode Island

Wildfires in California have killed at least six people and forced tens of thousands from their homes, with few signs of reprieve in sight, as firefighting resources strain under the vastness of dozens of infernos raging across the state.

Iran PressAmerica: More than 771,000 acres have burned so far, an area greater than the state of Rhode Island, California’s governor Gavin Newsom said at a press conference Friday.

He said the scope and ferocity of the fires has stretched thin the state’s capacity to respond in an “unprecedented moment” in California’s history, adding that he anticipated mutual aid support coming from Arizona, Oregon, Washington state, Texas, Nevada and elsewhere.

Two growing groups of fires — the S.C.U. Lightning Complex and the L.N.U. Lightning Complex — rank as the seventh-largest and 10th-largest fires in recent state history, Gov. Gavin Newsom said.

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