Tag Archives: California wildfire

California wildfire prompts new round of evacuations

A fire fighting aircraft drops fire retardant over wildfire in Kern County in central California

(Reuters) – A new wildfire burning through bone-dry grass, shrub and timber has forced the evacuation of dozens of homes in a mountain community in central California and more houses could be in the inferno’s path, fire officials said on Saturday.

The so-called Deer fire sparked on Friday afternoon and has grown to char about 1,800 acres of Bear Mountain, Kern County Fire Department spokesman Phil Neufeld said.

About 100 houses in Bear Valley Springs are under immediate threat from the flames and had to be evacuated, Neufeld said, and the wildfire is working its way through the difficult and steep terrain in the direction of many more homes.

“There is a ridge that the fire is working toward and we are working with great effort to keep it from that ridge. If it crests the ridge, it could change the whole dynamic,” Neufeld said.

He said the state’s running drought and a bark beetle infestation has desiccated trees in the area, which could provide ample fuel for the fire already aided by high temperatures and winds.

“We have a lot of talent working for us, but we’re at the mercy of the elements,” Neufeld said.

Two fire personnel have suffered minor injuries battling the blaze, Neufeld said, though no homes have been destroyed.

The fire is burning in the shadow of a much more massive blaze some 30 miles to the north. That wildfire, dubbed the Erskine Fire, has blackened some 48,000 acres, destroyed at least 150 homes, and left at least two people dead in communities near Lake Isabella.

Firefighters have been able to carve containment lines around 85 percent of the flame’s perimeter as of Saturday morning.

The wildfire season in drought-stricken California officially began in May but a string of major blazes over the past two weeks marked the first widespread outbreak of intense fires this year. The Erskine and Deer Fires were among 12 major wildfires burning across the state on Saturday.

All told, some 4,800 firefighters are battling infernos across the state. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection on Saturday urged residents to exercise “extreme caution” while using fireworks during the July 4th holiday weekend, as the pyrotechnics can spark additional fires.

(Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by David Gregorio)

Two bodies found in area burned by California wildfire

An American flag flies above wreckage at a residence leveled by the Erskine Fire in South Lake

y Dan Whitcomb

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Two bodies were found on Wednesday in a rural area of San Diego County charred by a major wildfire, sheriff’s officials said, as firefighters increasingly gained control over a larger blaze that also killed two people in central California.

The remains were discovered on private property in the Potrero area, which had been subject to a mandatory evacuation order as flames from the so-called Border Fire approached, San Diego County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Jan Caldwell said.

Caldwell said coroner’s investigators were trying to determine the identities of the deceased.

Two people who had been living in an outbuilding on the property and acting as caretakers were reported missing earlier this week.

The Border Fire, which broke out on June 19, has blackened more than 7,600 acres in southern San Diego County near the Mexican border. It was 97 percent contained by late Wednesday.

In central California, crews had cut containment lines around 70 percent of the so-called Erskine fire, which was burning in the drought-parched foothills near Lake Isabella in Kern County, about 110 miles (180 km) north of Los Angeles, fire managers said.

A major highway through the area had been reopened and more evacuees had been allowed to return home, authorities said.

On Wednesday, some 1,300 firefighters were battling the blaze that has burned about 47,000 acres, killed two people and destroyed more than 250 structures since it erupted a week ago, becoming the largest and most destructive in an already intense California fire season.

Crews will work to strengthen containment lines and extinguish spot fires started by potentially strong winds through the day, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said on its Inciweb website.

The two victims of the Erskine fire, found on Friday just beyond the ruins of their home, were identified by the Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin as a priest and his wife, Byron and Gladys McKaig.

Authorities have said more victims could be found once crews were able to inspect fire-ravaged areas more closely.

The California wildfire season officially began in May but the nine major fires that have started in the state over the past week marked the first widespread outbreak of intense fires this year.

(Reporting by Brendan O’Brien, Laila Kearney and Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Frances Kerry, David Gregorio and Paul Tait)