California fires affect Missouri native

ABC 17 News spoke with a Missouri native who is about a mile from one California wildfire’s mandatory evacuation zone. William Bishop told ABC 17 News life is a bit stressful with all that’s going on.

“Being from Missouri, it’s pretty foreign to me. It’s just kind of the anticipation and not knowing what’s going to happen… You know I am at work and my wife is home with the baby, it’s just a little freaky. I work up in Santa Barbara, where it’s not quite as bad,” Bishop said.

Bishop said the fires are doing a lot of damage, and it smells like campfire with trash in it.

There are now six major wildfires in southern California, with the Thomas Fire now having scorched up to 150,000 acres extending north up the coast.

According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, up to 90,000 residents are being forced to evacuate their homes.

One mid-Missouri volunteer ABC 17 News spoke with on Wednesday arrived safe in Oxnard, California Thursday, where one of the American Red Cross locations is located.

Thomas Shands’ said southern California is a dangerous place to be, but he knows he needs to be there.

“It’s a bad part of their (southern California residents’) life. It’s a disaster. Just like a single-family fire, it’s a disaster. They need to know that people care for them, and that there is a tomorrow,” Shands said.