As the California wildfire rages on, Gov. Jerry Brown has declared a state of emergency. He asked residents to conserve 20 percent of water as they battle both an illegally started wildfire and an unprecedented drought.
The fire started in the Los Angeles National Forest, north of Glendora early Thursday morning. Los Angeles County Fire Chief Daryl Osby said the fire has injured one person and destroyed two homes so far.
Speaking in San Francisco, Gov. Brown called the drought “perhaps the worst drought that California has ever seen since records (began) about 100 years ago."
Although the drought didn’t cause the fire, it’s definitely not helping the cause. Three men identified as Jonathan Carl Jerrell, 23, Clifford Eugene Henry Jr., 22 and Steven Robert Aguirre, 21, were arrested for starting an illegal campfire in the hills above Glendora.
"The way it's told to us is that all three of them were together at the time, sitting around this campfire," Police Chief Tim Staab told CNN. "Breeze kicked up, and that's what caused this fire."
As of Friday, the fire was contained 30 percent and Gov. Brown said his drought emergency declaration is a “call for arms.”
"It's important to wake all Californians to the serious matter of the drought and lack of rain. We are in a unprecedented, serious situation that people should pause and reflect on how we're dependent on rain, Mother Nature and each other,” Brown told reporters Friday.