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Updated Oct 1, 2020 - Science

In photos: Deadly wildfires devastate California's wine country

Rebecca Falconer
A home bursts into flames from the Shady Fire as it approaches Santa Rosa, California on September 28

The Shady Fire ravages a home as it approaches Santa Rosa in Napa County, California, on Sept. 28. The blaze is part of the massive Glass Fire Complex, which has razed over 51,620 acres at 2% containment. Photo: Samuel Corum/Agence France-Presse/AFP via Getty Images

More than 1,700 firefighters are battling 26 major wildfires across California, including in the heart of the wine country, where one mega-blaze claimed the lives of three people and forced thousands of others to evacuate this week.

The big picture: More than 8,100 wildfires have burned across a record 3.9 million-plus acres, killing 29 people and razing almost 7,900 structures in California this year, per Cal Fire. Just like the deadly blazes of 2017, the wine country has become a wildfires epicenter. Gov. Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency in Napa, Sonoma, and Shasta counties.

Rows of fire damaged grapevines lead to a damaged building at a vineyard on September 30
A building and vineyard in Calistoga damaged by the Glass Fire on Sept. 30. Smoke from this blaze has resulted some of the worst air quality in the world from this community to San Francisco, some 86 miles away. Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
The Glass Fire in Napa County burns on a mountainside with the Beckstoffer Vinyards in the foreground on Monday, Sept. 28, 2020 in St. Helena, CA.
The Glass Fire in Napa County burns on a mountainside with the Beckstoffer Vinyards in the foreground in St. Helena Sept. 28. Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Homeowner Tom Smith walks away from the fire near his home on Platina Road in Igo, on September 27
Homeowner Tom Smith walks away from the wildfire near his home on Platina Road in Igo on Sept. 27, after the Zogg Fire that killed the three people went from 400 acres to 7,000 acres in a matter of hours. Photo: Allison dinner and Allison Dinner/AFP via Getty Images
Firefighters intervene while a home bursts into flames from the Shady Fire as it approaches Santa Rosa, on September 28
The Shady Fire quickly spreading over the mountains while closing in on Santa Rosa, on Sept. 28. Its flames have damaged or razed "hundreds of homes, businesses, resorts and wineries," per CBS. Photo: Samuel Corum/AFP via Getty Images
PG&E crews work to clear downed power lines along Silverado Trail as the fire burns east of Calistoga, Calif. Tuesday, September 29
PG&E crews work to clear downed power lines along Silverado Trail Sept.29 as the wildfire burns east of Calistoga. The energy provider cut power to 3,100 more customers in Napa County at firefighters' request, per the Santa Rosa Press Democrat. Photo: Jessica Christian/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images
Charred bottles are seen in the remains of the a warehouse in the Farm House at the Castello di Amorosa winery which was gutted by the Glass Fire in Napa Valley, California on September 29
The remains of a warehouse at the Castello di Amorosa winery on Sept. 29, razed by the Glass Fire in Napa Valley. Fires are burning across parts of the wine country that have "had no fire history going back 70 years," the Los Angeles Times notes. Photo: Samuel Corum/AFP via Getty Images
A local resident who didnt want to be named wets down hotspots near a home along CA-128 during the Glass Fire in Napa County on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2020 in Calistoga, CA.
A local man wets down hot spots near a home in Calistoga on Sept. 29, when all 5,000 residents of the entire town have been ordered to evacuate. Photo: Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Editor's note: This article has been updated with the latest details from the fires.

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