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Nearly 200,000 people have been ordered to evacuate part of California near San Francisco as hurricane-force winds fan a large wildfire that began on 23 October. Meanwhile, the electricity has been turned off in some areas to avoid further fires, with up to 3 million people in the state could be affected.

The Kincade fire is the latest of a series of highly destructive wildfires in the state in the past three years. “The last three years feel so far outside of my lived experience I almost can’t comprehend it,” at the University of Washington, Seattle, who grew up in Sonoma county where the fire is raging.

Another, smaller wildfire is burning near Los Angeles. The winds were expected to decline on Monday, giving firefighters a chance to get the wildfires under control.

Wildfires are a natural occurrence in California and can be fanned by strong winds known as Diablo winds, most common in October. A recent drought has left the state particularly vulnerable.

Global warming is also playing a part, by making conditions drier. The average area in California burned by wildfires each year than it was in the 1970s.

The global picture is similar. The overall number of wildfires is not going up, but , according to the World Meteorological Organization.

Earlier this year, it was determined that the worst wildfire in California history – the Camp fire in November 2018 – . That means the company responsible for maintaining them, Pacific Gas & Electric, could be liable for up to $30 billion in damages. Pacific Gas & Electric is now turning off electricity supplies in areas where there is a high risk of wildfires.

The latest wildfires have “intensified fears that parts of California could become almost dangerous to inhabit”,, which described conditions in the Bay Area as “near apocalyptic”.