Schwarzenegger seeks disaster aid

SACRAMENTO, June 27 (UPI) -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger asked for federal disaster declarations Friday for seven California counties as the state continued to battle wildfires.

Officials said conditions might ease somewhat during the weekend, with a slight improvement in air quality in the San Francisco Bay area, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

At Big Sur, the famous scenic peninsula south of San Francisco, a wildfire had moved away from built-up areas. But the manager of the Big Sur Lodge said so many people had canceled reservations the hotel was only half full.

The Esalen Institute -- a personal growth workshop near Big Sur -- canceled some events because of ash and smoke.

Schwarzenegger visited firefighters working the Whiskeytown fire, a 3,300-acre blaze near Redding. He called for federal assistance to seven counties, six in northern California and Monterey, where Big Sur is located.

"It is clear we need every tool possible," he said. "It's very unusual to have this many fires at any particular time."

The fires, most of them started by lightning last weekend, have consumed 300 square miles of forest and scrub.