Saturday night's lightning storm started 10 fires across the Amador, El Dorado, Placer, Nevada and Shasta counties , Cal Fire spokesman Daniel Berlant said today.
The majority of the fires were relatively small, Berlant said, with the largest measured at less than one acre.
Berlant said the department was just as concerned Sunday as Saturday, explaining that the areas where lightning struck can still be smoldering and prone to reignition.
Low humidity, high temperatures and wind increase the chances of smoldering spots to reignite, Berlant said.
The storm brought with it some rain, though, which prevented a drier night, Berlant said. Unfortunately, that rain will not be enough to battle the low humidity in most counties, Berlant said.
"We're hoping that in some of the lower elevation counties, some rain could put out the smolder sites by itself," Berlant said.
"We have aircraft flying today, doing reconnaissance, looking for those areas where lightning struck so we can keep track of them," Berlant said.
Berlant said the department had a lot of concern because of the size of Saturday's storm, saying it had "a lot of potential."
Sacramento temperature is expected to rise to 90 degrees today, increasing by more than 10 degrees over the next seven days.
Copyright 2012 - The Sacramento Bee, Calif.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
