Lightning sparks more Calif. wildfires

WATSONVILLE, Calif., June 22 (UPI) -- Firefighters in northern California Sunday were dealing with spot wildfires sparked by hundreds of lightning strikes in Santa Cruz and Monterey counties.

The National Weather Service said Saturday's freak thunderstorm packed 200 lightning strikes and only cooled the area's record high temperatures a bit, the Monterey County (Calif.) Herald reported.

Wildfires were burning in North County, Big Sur, Correl De Tierra, San Benancio Canyon and Pebble Beach, the Herald said, adding California state officials estimate lightning may have sparked up to 400 fires from Monterey County to the Oregon border.

A major wildfire in Santa Cruz County, called the Trabing Fire, killed at least 40 farm animals, forced 2,000 people to flee their homes near Watsonville, Calif., and burned 15 structures to the ground, the Santa Cruz (Calif.) Sentinel reported Sunday.

"I saw more dead animals than I care to even remember. Whole barns wiped out," Todd Stosuy of the county's animal services department told the newspaper, which estimated another 220 animals were evacuated and taken elsewhere.