California governor declares emergency amid fires [View all]
Source: AP
ALTURAS, Calif. (AP) More than a dozen wildfires in California, some of which destroyed homes, forced evacuations and damaged infrastructure, prompted Gov. Jerry Brown to declare a state of emergency on Saturday.
The move came as fires in other West Coast states chewed through parched forests, brush and terrain, destroying some homes and threatening many others.
In California, dry lighting, high temperatures and severe drought conditions exacerbated the fire danger.
Brown's emergency proclamation said that the circumstances and magnitude of the wildfires are beyond the control of any single local government and will require the combined forces of regions to combat. To that end, he secured a federal grant on Saturday to cover 75 percent of the cost to fight a wildfire that started in Oregon and crossed into California.
Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/fires-force-evacuations-west-coast-states
The governor of Oregon
has also declared a state of emergency.