Fires sparked by lightning last weekend are spreading faster than firefighters can keep up with in Humboldt, Del Norte, Trinity and Shasta counties and have prompted numerous evacuations and road closures.

Some 12,000 people are fighting more than 1,000 fires on an estimated 150,000 acres of land in Northern California — prompting Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to declare a state of emergency for Shasta and Mendocino Counties.

Of the hundreds of acres of fires, two of the more significant ones are the Iron Complex — which grew from 4,500 acres to 12,000 acres overnight into Thursday, with five percent containment and the Lime Complex — which has remained burning 11,200 acres at 10 percent containment.

Those fires have cost the U.S. Forest Service an estimated $4 million in resources.

U.S. Forest Service Public Information Officer Mike Lee said that he was crossing his fingers for rain.

But with hot, dry and windy conditions — and a forecast of more lightning — he might be out of luck.

National Weather Service meteorologist Mark Burger said there could be lightning activity as soon as this afternoon over eastern Humboldt, Mendocino and Trinity counties.

Some rain will accompany the storm going into Sunday, but he said for the most part it will be dry lightning, accompanied by gusts of 25-35 mph — both combining could produce more fires in an already overburdened region.

Evacuations were issued in the communities of Platina, Cooper Bar, Helena, Canyon Creek and the area of Slattery Pond was issued an alert to be prepared for evacuation.

Residents in the Wildwood area off state Highway 36 were also evacuated.

Highway 299 near Junction City was closed throughout the day and had not reopened as of Thursday evening.

Highway 36 was also closed, at the intersection of state Highway 3 to the east of Wildwood Road.

The Hell’s Half Complex prompted the Six Rivers Forest Service to close off part of the forest seven miles south of Salyer and three miles west of Burnt Ranch for the safety of the public and the firefighters working there.

Michael Mayor of California Department of Transportation suggested that people don’t travel on state Highway 299 if they don’t have to because of the closures due to the fires.

An alternate route past Junction City, he said, would be to take Highway 36, turn on Highway 3 and go north to Weaverville and then head east on 299.

With the aid of an aircraft nearly the size of a 747 — The Martin Mars — help may be on the way to contain fires that have been out of reach.

The Martin Mars has a 7,200-gallon capacity, two to three times the capacity of a standard air tanker, and will scoop up water from Shasta Lake to help put out fires throughout Northern California.

Brian Morris, fire information officer for Six Rivers National Forest lightning fires, said that help from resources out of state was helping local firefighters in Willow Creek and Orleans to re-supply engines and rest for the possibility of more lightning fires this weekend.

“It’s going to allow our people to get ready for initial attack if the storms do occur and we get some fires out of them,” he said. “We will have some resources ready to fight these fires.”