Update on California Wildfires

12 November 2018 — The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) advises the Filipino Community in California who are in the path of at least three raging wildfires to evacuate if ordered to do so. The Department issued the advisory as it expressed its condolences to the families of the 31 people killed by the wildfires that have been ravaging both ends of California since Thursday. Consul General Henry Bensurto said the Philippine Consulate General in San Francisco has not received any reports of Filipino casualties from the fires that required the evacuation of more than 300,000 residents. He said the Camp Fire, which has burned 44,900 hectares in Northern California, is 25 percent contained as of Sunday morning. In Southern California, the Woolsey Fire, which has spread to 33,600 hectares, is 10 percent contained while the Hill Fire, which covered 1,800 hectares, is 75 percent contained. Consul General Bensurto advised the estimated 1.3 million members of the Filipino Community in California to continuously monitor the situation and heed warnings from local authorities. END