California Wild fires kill 10

Parts of California's wine region are being ravaged by fast-spreading fires that have killed at least 10 people.
A state of emergency was declared in northern areas after mass evacuations, with 1,500 properties destroyed.
About 20,000 people fled from Napa, Sonoma and Yuba counties in response to some the state's worst-ever wildfires.
Such fires are more common in southern California but a combination of dry weather and strong winds has fuelled the destruction in the north.

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s the death toll rose to 40, firefighters struggled to get the upper hand against several massive wildfires that have ravaged Northern California for almost a week.

The winds that bedeviled firefighters Saturday are expected to die down Sunday, allowing firefighters to go back on the offense after a day of new evacuations. Cooler temperatures are also forecast. So evacuations in Napa city were lifted Sunday.

Officials said Sunday they are making good progress on the Tubbs and Atlas fires. which are both more than 50% contained. Firefighters will concentrate their forces on the Nuns fire, which is 30% contained. There was some concern the Tubbs and Nuns fires could merge.

It was a different story Saturday, when strong winds kicked up overnight in the central Napa Valley region, causing some fires to spread and triggering evacuations in Sonoma and elsewhere, officials said.

Fire officials feared that winds forecast for Saturday would be similar to those that stoked the first flames on Oct. 8 and that have since exploded to more than 15 fires that have scorched 220,000 acres, destroyed an estimated 5,700 structures and caused at least 40 deaths.

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