"Valley Fire" in California Devours 130 Buildings, Over 6,000 Threatened

A large forest fire in Middletown and several surrounding settlements in northern California has destroyed hundreds of homes and forced thousands of residents to flee, firefighters reported, as carried by the Patria news agency.

The fire, named Valley Fire, is considered the most destructive this summer in the western United States. Another fire, which has been raging since Wednesday in the western Sierra Nevada mountain range, has destroyed more than 130 buildings and threatens nearly 6,400 more.

Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency in both areas, and mandatory evacuations were expanded after wind began carrying the Valley Fire toward towns in the hills north of the Napa Valley wine region. The Valley Fire has consumed more than 50,000 hectares of forest since it broke out on Saturday in rural Lake County, about 50 miles west of Sacramento.

Four firefighters ended up in the hospital with second-degree burns and are now in stable condition. The Butte Fire in the mountains east of Sacramento has destroyed 65,000 hectares of forest. In four days, 81 homes and 51 commercial buildings have burned. Firefighters have managed to bring 20 percent of that fire under control.

In California and six other western states, more than 30 fires are currently raging, Index reports.