California fires cause $1 billion in damages, burn 7,000 buildings
The wildfires that have devastated Northern California this month caused at least USD 1 billion in damage to insured property, officials said today, as authorities increased the count of homes and other buildings destroyed to nearly 7,000, The Economic Times reported.
Both numbers were expected to rise as crews continued assessing areas scorched by the blazes that killed 42 people, a total that makes it the deadliest series of fires in state history, the source said.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection's estimate of homes and structures destroyed was boosted to 6,900 from 5,700 as fire crews returned to hard-hit neighbourhoods and assessed remote and rural areas they could not get to earlier.
According to the source, California Governor Jerry Brown late yesterday issued an executive order to speed up recovery efforts as fire authorities say they've stopped the progress of wildfires.
More than 15,000 people remain evacuated today, down from a high of 100,000 last Saturday.