(Bendbulletin) - Nearly 20 major wildfires raged across California on Friday, forcing thousands to evacuate under summer skies darkened by smoke as firefighters struggled against the drought-fueled fire season.

The fires prompted Gov. Jerry Brown to declare a state of emergency, which will free up additional firefighters and disaster response resources to combat the growing crisis.

“California’s severe drought and extreme weather have turned much of the state into a tinderbox,” said Brown. “Our courageous firefighters are on the front lines and we’ll do everything we can to help them.” The wind-whipped Rocky Fire in Lake County, California, was one of many that grew in triple-digit heat and bone-dry hills, fraying the nerves of residents in the small towns east of Clear Lake.

“If that lights up, we lose everything,” said David Barreda, 59, pointing to the big stacks of hay next to his feed store in Lower Lake, California, where hot embers rained down from the mountains above. “At this point, there’s really nowhere you can go to hide.”

The fire above the small community, just 100 miles north of San Francisco where cellphone service is sparse and deer-crossing signs are common, had scorched 18,000 acres by Friday afternoon. The blaze more than tripled in size overnight, having started just a few miles from the downtown Wednesday.

It was just 5 percent contained Friday. The cause was not known.

Three homes and several outbuildings had burned, and more than 600 people were evacuated.

Barreda’s family was among them, having fled their 11-acre ranch 3 miles from his store to head for safer ground in town. However, just when they thought things were getting better, and Barreda’s wife, Sarah, had returned home, the winds shifted and pushed the fire back in their direction.

“Here we go again,” Barreda said. “The sky’s getting dark.”

After securing the hay at Barreda’s Lower Lake Feed store, he and his 12-year-old grandson, Jeremiah, jumped in their SUV and drove back to the ranch to get Sarah. They safely retrieved her as well as some frozen ribs and chicken that they would later thaw for dinner. Jeremiah also grabbed a photograph of his deceased father.

Fire officials expected the Rocky Fire to continue to grow, both southeast of Lower Lake along the sparsely populated Hidden Valley and Spruce Grove roads as well as northward into the remote Cache Creek Wilderness.

None of the main highways to the region’s many wineries, hiking trails and attractions at Clear Lake were closed, but the air was uncomfortable and thick with smoke.

“We’re trying to contain it and slow it down, but it’s going to continue to burn,” said Cal Fire Capt. Joe Fletcher, who was among the more than 1,000 firefighters battling the blaze from land and sky. “It’s kind of a roller coaster.”

The situation was similar at 17 other major wildfires in the state, most in Northern California where four dry years have left the vegetation brittle and ripe for burning.

Not far from Lake County, last week’s Wragg Fire in Napa and Solano counties continued to burn, scorching more than 8,000 acres south of Lake Berryessa. Full containment is expected by Monday.

South of Yosemite National Park in the Sierra, meanwhile, the Willow Fire near Bass Lake has scorched more than 4,000 acres and remained just 30 percent contained.

At least 60 dry lightning strikes reported in Humboldt and Mendocino counties caused relatively small fires up and down the coast since Thursday and gave firefighters more to worry about, said Daniel Berlant, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.