People enjoy a music party inside a swimming pool at the Wuhan Maya Beach Park, in Wuhan, China. REUTERS/Stringer

About two dozen large wildfires are blazing across the state California forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate, with Gov. Gavin Newsom ordering a state of emergency. At least 23 massive fires, some triggered by lightning strikes and fueled by a historic heat wave and high winds, stretch from Napa, Sonoma, San Mateo and Contra Costa counties, and have triggered rolling power blackouts and unhealthy air quality across the region. Over the last 72 hours 10,849 lightning strikes were reported statewide, sparking roughly 367 new fires the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said in a press conference Wednesday. So far authorities believe the fires have burned through 300,000 acres and have released so much smoke that it is visible from space via satellite imagery. Much of the fires are affecting the San Francisco Bay Area, where thick smoke blanketed the city.