No Filipino Casualties in California Wildfires

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Tuesday said there are no Filipinos reported dead in the massive wildfires raging in Northern California’s wine country.

DFA Secretary Alan Peter S. Cayetano said the Philippine Consulate General in San Francisco is closely monitoring the situation, and is coordinating with local authorities and the Filipino community in the affected areas to check on their conditions.

There are an estimated 13,500 Filipinos living in the Napa, Sonoma and Yuba counties, which are the areas most affected by the wildfires. An estimated 4,200 Filipinos live in the other affected counties of Lake, Marin and Mendocino.

The Consulate General reported that 15 separate fires have broken out and affected over 73,000 acres (29,500 hectares). The fires destroyed 1,500 structures and caused the evacuation of an estimated 20,000 residents.

Meanwhile, the Philippines expressed its sympathies to the families of 10 casualties of the wildfires.

“We pray that our kababayans and other residents in the affected areas be kept safe and their homes spared from the fires,” Cayetano said in a statement from New York.