"Last night, nearly 400 firefighters battled the #ValleyFire The fire grew 408 acres overnight, bringing its total acreage to 10,258. All evacuation warnings and orders remain in place," Cal Fire tweeted on Monday.
Eight air tankers and over a dozen helicopters have been assigned to the blaze with nearly 400 personnel involved, according to Cal Fire.
Last night, nearly 400 firefighters battled the #ValleyFire The fire grew 408 acres overnight, bringing it’s total acreage to 10,258. All evacuation warnings and orders remain in place. Video Credit CAL FIRE Photographer Jeff Hall pic.twitter.com/VTEH1P1UK1
— CAL FIRE/SAN DIEGO COUNTY FIRE (@CALFIRESANDIEGO) September 7, 2020
"The forecasted cooler and lighter winds today should provide a slight reduction of fire spread," Cal Fire said, specifying in a Monday incident update report that the fire is still only 1 percent contained.
Cal Fire said on Sunday that the wildfire was burning across more than 9,800 acres and was 1 percent contained. The Cleveland National Forest tweeted on Sunday evening that there were 374 personnel fighting the Valley Fire and that 11 structures had been destroyed.
California wildfires have covered more than 2 million acres this year, according to the agency, setting the record for most acres burned in a single fire season.
"This year, wildfires have now burned over 2 million acres. There have been 8 fatalities and more than 3,300 structures destroyed," Cal Fire said in a Monday update, adding that "Much of California is currently under a Red Flag Warning for strong, gusty winds and low humidity."
According to Cal Fire, over 14,100 firefighters are now battling blazes across California.
Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), acknowledged that this year’s wildfire season in California had set a new record.
"Incredibly, this slipped in ‘under the radar’ due to the more acute short-term wildfire crisis: 2020 has now eclipsed 2018 for the most acres burned in California in a single year during modern era (2,094,955 acres)," Swain tweeted.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has issued emergency declarations for several counties amid the wildfires. US President Donald Trump approved a major disaster declaration for California on 22 August. Newsom declared a statewide emergency on 18 August.
