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President Obama declares major disaster in California fire

Deverich fears that her childhood summer camp will burn due to the speed of the Valley fires near Lake County in Northern California, which are moving at a speed of up to 30 miles per hour.

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Firefighters search for victims in the rubble of a home burnt by the Valley Fire in Middletown, California, on September 14. There have been 69 major wildfires in California since January, Brown wrote, and they’ve burned triple the acreage of 2014’s fire season.

The Tassajara Fire pales in comparison to two larger blazes that have preoccupied fire crews farther north over the past two weeks, together laying waste to more than 1,400 homes and almost 900 other structures.

Another body has been found in a burned-out home in Lake County.

“As surveys are completed and additional data is confirmed, the number of structures destroyed may rise”, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said.

His office has had reports of 15 missing people since the fire began. More than 19,300 residents were ordered to evacuate and several hundred survivors remain in eight shelters. One person has died in the area, according to NBC Bay Area, and occurred near the spot where the fire could have originated. But schools in the Middletown Unified School District were closed for a second week, and one in the community of Cobb won’t reopen for months due to fire damage. “Major roads were damaged or destroyed”. Fire officials understand the frustration and anxiety of the citizenry but explain that they are trying to make impossible decisions under impossible conditions.

In the same letter, Brown also sought a declaration for another fire in Calaveras and Amador counties that started September 9.

Fire danger remains high in California, with high temperatures and wind gusts in the forecast.

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Many people plan on going to the Twin Pines Casino and Hotel where the Red Cross’s main headquarters are. Cal Fire officials pointed to drought conditions as well as the danger of the bark beetle, which has turned millions of trees into dead and dry timber.

Brush and oak trees flare up as firefighters work to contain a blaze that burns along Highway 68 east of Laureles Grade in rural Salinas Calif. Saturday Sept. 19 2015. MANDATORY CREDIT