Emergency crews get a respite battling record fires in northern California

Thunderstorms rumbled over northern California again on Monday, but the fire-ravaged region around San Francisco Bay was largely spared from a new onslaught of incendiary lightning strikes such as those that sparked hundreds of blazes last week.

Firefighting crews, already stretched to their limits, had braced for another potentially catastrophic spate of dry lightning on Sunday and Monday, as forecasters for the National Weather Service had predicted.

But rather than the thousands of lightning strikes that were feared, the region saw a few hundred, while cloudy skies, cooler temperatures and rising humidity provided a welcome respite that helped fire crews consolidate some gains they made over the weekend.

Still, the squall of monster-sized wildfires — including the second- and third-largest on record in California — remained far from under control, with about  240,000 people under evacuation orders.

Rebecca Pledger, 64, in Middletown, about 145km  north of San Francisco, said she and her husband chose to disregard evacuation orders for the time being, hoping their home would be spared as they stayed put to attend to their chickens, horse and dogs.

On Wednesday night, the northeastern edge of a gigantic blaze dubbed the LNU lightning complex fire had burnt to within 5km of their property.

“We'll leave when we see the flames coming down the hill,” she said.

Close to 300 lightning strikes sparked 10 blazes on Sunday night into Monday morning, and more sleeper fires were likely smouldering as yet undiscovered in areas shrouded by dense smoke, Governor Gavin Newsom said.

“We are in a different climate and we are dealing with different climate conditions that are precipitating fires the likes of which we have not seen in modern recorded history,” Newsom said.

Wildfires ignited by more than 13,000 lightning strikes all across northern and central California since August 15 have killed at least seven people and destroyed more than 1,200 homes and other structures.

“We are essentially living in a megafire era,” said CalFire Santa Clara Unit Chief Jake Hess, noting that the state had endured four of the five largest wildfires in its history during the past three years.

Evacuees began returning on Monday to homes and vineyards torched by the LNU complex wildfire.

“Nothing's left, but we're safe,” said one man, who did not give his name in an online video showing everything but his patio furniture destroyed at his house near Vacaville.

Smoke from fires created unhealthy air quality for a large swath of northern California and drifted as far away as Kansas.

More than 14,000 firefighters, some who have been forced to work gruelling 72-hour shifts, were assigned to the wildfires, with 91 fire crews travelling from seven states and National Guard troops arriving from four states, Newsom said. — Reuters