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Calif. Officials Request State of Emergency as Wildfires Continue

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state's Congressional delegation are calling on President Bush to declare a state of emergency as wildfires continue to plague California. From Sacramento Ben Ad

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state's Congressional delegation are calling on President Bush to declare a state of emergency as wildfires continue to plague California. From Sacramento Ben Adler reports.

On Friday, Governor Schwarzenegger officially asked the federal government for immediate help in managing the more than a thousand fires burning throughout California. The state's Congressional Delegation is backing the Governor's request.

If approved, the U.S. would send in air and ground firefighting crews … plus help with debris removal, sheltering evacuees and financial aid.

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Fire officials blame last weekend's lightning strikes for the blazes that so far have burned more than 3-hundred square miles in Northern California.  State resources are currently stretched so thin that 15 percent of the fires are unattended.

The National Weather Service expects more dry lightning storms over the weekend.

In Sacramento, I'm Ben Adler.