California governor declares fire emergency

Authorities have ordered nearly 200,000 people in Northern California to evacuate their homes due to wildfires. A huge fire in Sonoma County north of San Francisco has burned since Wednesday, covering 85 square miles, destroying 94 buildings, and threatening 80,000 other structures. California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a statewide emergency on Sunday.

Who is being affected? About 90 percent of the evacuations are in Sonoma County. Pacific Gas and Electric notified more than 1.2 million customers that it may cut off their power for what could be the third time in a week and the fourth time this month to prevent more fires. In Southern California, a blaze broke out on the west side of Los Angeles early Monday, threatening thousands of homes.

Dig deeper: Read Julie Borg’s report in Beginnings after last year’s Camp Fire about the relationship between climate change and wildfires.