California governor Newsom declares emergency in three counties due to fire

[September 29, 2020]    (Reuters) - California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in three counties because of the Glass and Zogg fires that have claimed three lives and burned thousands of acres in the state since Sunday.

Democratic U.S. vice presidential nominee Senator Kamala Harris meets with California Governor Gavin Newsom at the site of the Creek Fire in Auberry, California, U.S., September 15, 2020. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

The counties include Napa, Sonoma and Shasta, the governor's office said in a statement  late on Monday.

The governor also sent a letter to U.S. president Donald Trump via the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), requesting him to declare a major disaster, which would strengthen response to fires across the state, the statement added.

The declaration said its intent was to "assist state and local wildfire response and recovery efforts in the counties of Fresno, Los Angeles, Madera, Mendocino, San Bernardino, San Diego and Siskiyou."

The request comes after the deadly Zogg fire destroyed 146 structures and charred 31,000 acres in Shasta County and coincided with the outbreak of another conflagration in the heart of California's wine country north of the Bay Area.

That blaze, dubbed the Glass Fire, has spread across 36,000 acres of similar terrain in Napa and Sonoma counties since early Sunday.

Both fires were listed at zero containment as of Monday evening. The cause of each was under investigation.

(Reporting by Aishwarya Nair in Bengaluru. Editing by Gerry Doyle)

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