Ten people have died in northern California after what officials are describing as an unprecedented wild fire that has already destroyed 1500 structures and devastated large swaths of wine country. Amy Head the fire captain spokesperson for Cal Fire the state agency responsible for fire protection confirmed the number of fatalities late on Monday. We often have multiple fires going on but the majority of them all started right around same time period same time of night – it s unprecedented she told the Guardian. I hate using that word because it s been overused a lot lately because of how fires have been in the past few years but it truly is – there s just been a lot of destruction. California s governor Jerry Brown has declared a state of emergency in eight mostly northern counties – Butte Lake Mendocino Napa Nevada Orange Sonoma and Yuba counties. The flames are barely contained and are threatening thousands of homes and vineyards in the wine country north of San Francisco. Nine of the deaths occurred in Napa and Sonoma counties while another was farther north in Mendocino county officials said. The wildfires whipped by powerful winds early on Monday sent residents on a headlong flight to safety through smoke and flames as homes burned. Around 20000 people have been evacuated including hundreds of senior citizens from local nursing homes.