MEAWW.COM / NEWS / HUMAN INTEREST

California wildfires that have claimed 6 lives caught on dashcam as motorists drive through terrifying blaze

Governor Gavin Newsom has asked Canada and Australia for help as two of the blazes are now among the ten biggest ever seen in the state

Dashcam footage has captured the horrifying moment of motorists driving through the California wildfires that have taken the lives of six people even as two out of the 560 blazes are now being counted among the ten biggest ever seen in the state. Given the seriousness of the situation, Governor Gavin Newsom has asked Canada and Australia for help. The terrifying footage was reportedly taken by a car’s camera as it passed through the violent flames of the Hennessey Fire in Napa County. The video also showed heavy smoke filling the air while burning trees dangerously seemed to topple.

According to reports, the rapidly spreading fires have destroyed over 771,000 acres that include a number of homes, trees, and entire neighborhoods. Much of the destruction happened because of two massive fires, named the SCU Lightning Complex and the LNU Lightning Complex. The officials have said that the SCU and the LNU are now the 7th and 10th largest in the Golden State’s history.

The Daily Mail reported that nearly 12,000 firefighters have been deployed to tackle the wildfires. Besides, the local government has also issued an SOS call to other countries’ leaders to help save the state. Pleading help from Canada and Australia, governor Newsom said: “These fires are stretching our resources, our personnel. We simply haven't seen anything like this in many, many years.”

On Friday, August 21, the governor said that the state is “putting everything we have” into tackling the calamity, but it needs more. The LNU has reportedly increased fourfold in size over the last two days, affecting 220,000 acres from Napa County to four surrounding counties. The firefighters’ numbers deployed to tackle the fire has been increased to more than 1,000. “We are not naive by any stretch about how deadly this moment is and why it is essential... that you heed evacuation orders and that you take them seriously,” Newsom said.

Reports stated that ten US states, including Oregon, New Mexico, and Texas, are racing in to help California, while governor Newsom pleaded for help from other nations as an area equivalent of the size of Rhode Island has already burned. Local people have also begged for help as they have to work along with professional crews hosing down burning redwoods in Henry Cowell State Park. "We need HELP in the Santa Cruz mountains. SEND IN THE NATIONAL GUARD NOW!" San Jose State University professor Scott Myers-Lipton wrote on Twitter as he added: “@CAgovernor @GavinNewsom, are YOU hearing us yet? Act NOW to save our homes! #CZUAugustLightningComplexFireb #CZUAugustLightningComplex”

It has been said that some 175,000 people have been told to evacuate, but some of them are worried to go to emergency shelters given the Covid-19 crisis. "Not only are we dealing with Covid, but with also the heat and now the fires,” one woman named Cheryl Jarvis said, who was sleeping in her Toyota Prius. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has blamed the people of California for the blazes. On Thursday, August 20, he spoke to his supporters in Pennsylvania and said he had told state officials: "You gotta clean your floors, you gotta clean your forests — there are many, many years of leaves and broken trees and they're like, like, so flammable, you touch them and it goes up."

Trump added: "I've been telling them this now for three years, but they don't want to listen. ‘The environment, the environment,' but they have massive fires again."