Two wildfires in Northern California were threatening more than 3,500 homes and forcing thousands to evacuate Sunday night.
About 1,000 firefighters were on the front lines to protect homes and commercial buildings in Manton, Shingletown and Viola in Tehama and Shasta counties from an out-of-control wildfire sparked by lighting on Saturday, said Daniel Berlant, spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. More than 12,000 acres of forest have been destroyed by the blaze - called the Ponderosa Fire - and it had yet to be contained, he said.
Lightning strikes on Friday night and Saturday morning set off a dozen fires across the state, Berlant said.
Dry conditions are contributing to the Ponderosa Fire's rapid spread.
"The brush, the timber is tinder-dry," he said. "When the fire gets up to them, it just burns very quickly."
A Red Cross shelter has been established at the Big League Dreams athletic complex in Redding.
In Plumas County, a mandatory evacuation was issued Sunday evening for the communities of Canyondam and Big Meadows as firefighters tried a new tactic in battling a wildfire that has raged since July 29 and burned nearly 45,000 acres.
According to the U.S. Forest Service, firefighters planned to conduct a series of burnout operations that would reduce fuel to the fire. Almanor and Prattville communities were also given voluntary evacuation orders by the Plumas County Sheriff's Office.
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