Gov. Jerry Brown declares state of Emergency because of Fires in California

The fires prompted Gov. Jerry Brown to declare a state of emergency for California on Friday. As part of the order, he activated the California National Guard to help with disaster recovery.

Berlant said firefighters were hoping cooler weather might help them this weekend, but there was also the threat that lingering thunderstorms could bring more lightning strikes like those that ignited several of the fires.

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http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/firefighter-killed-hundreds-flee-california-blazes-burn-32821003?singlePage=true

Where I live we haven't been affected by fires much yet mostly because the winds aren't blowing this direction. However, we are still early in the fire season. When I lived in Mt. Shasta, for example, you could expect a week to a month of smoke at least every year from fires to the north, South, East or west blowing smoke in your direction there. A few years ago for example, I was driving south from Portland where one of my daughter's lives and there was incredibly heavy smoke so much that it blotted out the sun from Grant's Pass all the way to Ashland, Oregon which I thought was pretty amazing. I had to recycle the air with the air conditioner on just to drive through it because the smoke was so very thick. This likely was the most smoke that close to the ground that I had ever seen for so long a distance during that fire where you couldn't even see the sun on a clear day except for the smoke. Because I live right on the ocean (within a mile) and the wind mostly comes off the ocean it blows the smoke away from where I live on inland. Also, the fog and clouds do the same off the ocean and usually keep the temperatures here below 70 or 80 degrees during the summers where I live. Since the air comes off 5000 miles plus of ocean there usually isn't any smoke or smog in it which keeps the air pretty clear which is why people like to live on the ocean if they can in California.