State sends crews to fight California blazes

Less than 24 hours after 6,000 bolts of lightning sparked a rash of California wildfires, crews from Nevada were on the scene to lend a hand.

About 250 members of the Nevada Division of Forestry were sent Sunday to battle fires in Northern California.

The units comprise six 24-person hand crews, 10 local fire engine crews and several other individuals, said Mike Dondero, state fire management officer for the division.

"We've had some small fires in the state, but we don't have anything really going, so we sent our crews to help," he said.

The crews will be in Foresthill and Mather, near San Francisco, for about two weeks.

In Nevada, smoke billowing east from some of the more than 600 wildfires burning in California prompted Clark County officials to issue an air quality advisory effective through today.

An estimated 602 fires are burning from Santa Cruz north to the Oregon border, but density and amount of smoke moving into the Las Vegas Valley is low.

Although unhealthy levels of airborne smoke and dust are not occurring, air quality officials are monitoring the situation.

The inhalable particles from the smoke should be avoided because they can aggravate respiratory diseases such as asthma and bronchitis, they said.

A large, dry cell of lightning struck California on Saturday, leaving smoldering spots on the ground that grew into free burning fires, said Roy DelCarlo, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Some evacuations took place in the state, but most of the blazes occurred in inaccessible, mountainous areas, he said.