At least 11 people were killed and more than 100 others were injured on Monday as massive wildfires swept through parts of California, destroying 1,500 residences and buildings, authorities said.
Firefighters were battling 17 fires across multiple counties around the state as of late Monday night, authorities said. Intensified by strong winds, the fires charred about 90,000 acres of land, destroyed at least 1,500 buildings and forced nearly 20,000 residents to evacuate.
St. Joseph Health said about 170 patients have been treated, many for burns and smoke inhalation, at three of its hospitals, including two in Sonoma County, where at least seven people died of fire-related injuries. The Sonoma County Sheriff's Office said the number of fatalities could increase. Authorities have received more than 100 phone calls to report on people who were purportedly missing, according to one Sonoma County official.
Officials with the California Highway Patrol described one of the dead as an elderly woman who was blind and hard of hearing, according to ABC's San Francisco station KGO. The woman was found dead in the driveway of her home in Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, according to the officials, who suspected that she may have been trying to escape the flames when she she died.
Details on the other victims have not been released yet.
Two of the largest blazes, dubbed the Tubbs and Atlas Fires by authorities, burned a combined 52,000 acres of land in Sonoma and Napa counties.
In Anaheim, 1,000 firefighters were mobilized to fight a blaze that burned an estimated 6,000 acres and destroyed at least 24 homes and businesses. At least 3,000 residents were evacuated in and around Anaheim and more than 5,000 structures were threatened by the flames.
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