Wildfires

Wildfires - California

Five hundred people north of San Francisco have been evacuated as a growing bushfire has consumed several buildings in less than 12 hours after it first ignited, fire officials said on Thursday.

The blaze, called the “Rocky Fire,” is one of many in the state and started on Wednesday in Lake County, 110 miles north of San Francisco. The blaze rapidly spread to scorch 3,000 acres by early Thursday, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CalFire).

The fire produced a smoky haze visible from 80 miles away in the wine-making region of Napa, where another wildfire has burned for a week and forced 200 people to evacuate on Wednesday. Crews battling fires kept a blaze east of California’s Napa Valley from jumping any more containment lines, fire officials said.