Wildfires

Wildfires - California, USA

A second fatality was confirmed on Wednesday in the massive California wildfires that have also destroyed more than 800 homes and forced the evacuation of 20,000 people, but crews appeared to turn a corner against the blazes as rain fell over the region.

The so-called Valley and Butte fires are the two most destructive blazes in an intense wildfire season in California that is already shaping up as one of the fiercest on record with much of September and October - historically the worst two months of the year - still ahead.

The more ferocious of the two latest blazes, the so-called Valley Fire, erupted on Saturday and raced through several communities north of Napa County's wine-producing region, destroying 585 homes and hundreds of other structures.

But a cooling trend, higher moisture levels and diminished winds have helped firefighters gain ground against the blaze in recent days, according to officials from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire).

Sporadic drizzle fell Wednesday over the county seat of Lakeport, site of the fire command post.

Containment of the fire - a measure of how much of its perimeter has been enclosed within buffer lines carved through vegetation by ground crews - had grown to 30 percent by Wednesday morning, Cal Fire said.