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Lightning brings risk of new wildfires to California

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Jae C. Hong/AP
In this Sept. 1, 2021, file photo, a firefighter lights a backfire to stop the Caldor Fire from spreading near South Lake Tahoe, Calif. An unidentified firefighter has died of an illness while assigned to one of California's largest wildfires, authorities said Sunday, Sept. 5, 2021, marking the first death in a season that has seen blazes destroy thousands of buildings and force entire towns to flee. Edwin Zuniga with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said he couldn't provide other details on the death.
Western Wildfires
Posted at 8:20 AM, Sep 10, 2021
and last updated 2021-09-10 11:20:42-04

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Fast-moving thunderstorms with lightning and little rain are moving across Northern California and raising the risk of new wildfires in the drought-stricken region.

A red flag warning for critical fire weather conditions is expected to remain in effect all of Friday. But the thunderstorm threat is expected to diminish in most areas by late morning.

Thunderstorms also moved through parts of Southern California late Thursday and early Friday, triggering flash flood concerns for burn scars of past wildfires.

The threat of lightning-sparked fires arrived as thousands of firefighters have made progress on containing more than a dozen large fires. Most of them are in Northern California.

Copyright 2021 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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