California firefighters tackle 400 blazes

SANTA CRUZ, Calif., June 23 (UPI) -- California firefighters Monday were battling nearly 400 fires, many in northern California where a weekend lightning storm started hundreds of small blazes.

Officials of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, known as Cal Fire, said wildfires were burning from the Oregon border to as far south as Fresno, with 90 fires reported in Mendocino County, the Lake County (Calif.) News reported Monday. There, officials said the cumulative effects of many small fires have resulted in 5,000 acres burned and smoky skies.

Meteorologists said some 6,000 lightning strikes were recorded Saturday from Santa Cruz, Calif., north to the Oregon border, sparking a large fire northwest in Napa County where about 3,500 acres had burned and one residence was destroyed, the Los Angeles Times reported, adding that 100 small fires were reported Shasta County.

"It pounded us real hard," Cal Fire spokesman Roy Del Carlo told the newspaper. "It's stretching our resources."

The state reported that at one point 700 fires were burning during the weekend and estimated 10,000 acres had been scorched.