No End in Sight as Blazes Keep Growing in California

Among the biggest concerns is the L.N.U. Lightning Complex, which has rapidly grown to 302,388 acres, stretching across Napa County and four surrounding counties.

The fires in that grouping have destroyed

nearly 500 homes and other buildings, many of them in Vacaville, and are responsible for the four civilian deaths as well as four injuries, according to Cal Fire, the state’s fire agency. Firefighters said those blazes are 15 percent contained.

The police in Vacaville, near Sacramento, said on Friday afternoon that people could begin returning to some neighborhoods, but many faced the prospect that their homes might have already been charred by fires that swept along the edges of the city this week.

A third combination of fires known as the C.Z.U. Lightning Complex has forced about 77,000 people in San Mateo and Santa Cruz Counties to evacuate, including the entire University of California, Santa Cruz, campus. That group of fires has grown to 57,000 acres, consumed almost 100 buildings and is 2 percent contained.

The S.C.U. Lightning Complex, which includes about 20 fires, has spread across 274,968 acres — largely in less populous areas — and was 10 percent contained on Friday, Cal Fire said. Its proximity to San Jose had led to some evacuation orders, and two emergency workers and two civilians have been injured.

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