Wildfires cover Bay Area in smoke

Authorities in California ordered thousands of evacuations in the San Francisco Bay Area on Wednesday. More than 40 wildfires in the state have destroyed or damaged more than 100 buildings and injured at least four people. A pilot on a water-dropping mission died when his helicopter crashed in Fresno County Wednesday morning. Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency on Tuesday. Officials evacuated sections of Vacaville, about halfway between San Francisco and Sacramento, on Wednesday morning, as lightning sparked even more fires.

How are firefighters doing? Crews had difficulty getting to the heart of the fires in steep mountainous regions. Another major fire south of San Francisco has consumed wooded areas and forced 22,000 people to evacuate. Cal Fire spokesman Jonathan Cox called that blaze “very active” and said it was a “serious threat to public safety.”

Dig deeper: View the U.S. Forest Service’s live interactive map of fires across the country.