Thousands evacuated ahead of fast-moving California wildfire

[rooster59]

Thousands evacuated ahead of fast-moving California wildfire

By Dan Whitcomb

 

Firefighters work at the site of a wildfire in Goleta, California, U.S., July 6, 2018 in this image obtained on social media. Mike Eliason/Santa Barbara County Fire/via REUTERS

 

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Santa Barbara County officials declared a local emergency on Saturday as a fast-moving wildfire driven by strong winds and triple-digit temperatures destroyed 20 homes and other structures and forced thousands of residents to evacuate.

 

The Holiday Fire, one of more than three dozen major blazes burning across the U.S. West, broke out on Friday evening near the beach community of Goleta, California, South of Santa Barbara, and raced through the seaside foothills.

 

The flames forced more than 2,000 people to flee their homes, and left thousands more without power, prompting the emergency declaration which frees additional funds for the firefighting effort.

 

Some 350 firefighters took advantage of a period of light winds early on Saturday to contain as much as possible of the blaze, which has burned through 50 to 80 acres (20 to 32 hectares), fire officials said.

 

"It was a small fire but it had a powerful punch to it," Santa County Fire spokesman Mike Eliason said. "We're going to hit it hard today."

 

Winds were expected to pick up again as temperatures rise in the afternoon, he said.

 

Dozens of blazes have broken out across the western United States, fanned by scorching heat, winds and low humidity in a particularly intense fire season.

 

This year's fires had burned more than 2.9 million acres (1.17 million hectares) through Friday, already more than the annual average of about 2.4 million acres (971,000 hectares) over the last 10 years, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

 

On Friday, the remains of an unidentified person were found near a home burned to the ground by the Klamathon fire, which broke out on Thursday near California's border with Oregon. It marked the first fatality of the fire season in California.

 

The Klamathon, which has destroyed 15 structures and blackened nearly 22,000 acres (8,900 hectares), was only 5 percent contained as of Saturday.

 

Elsewhere in Northern California, the County Fire has charred 88,375 acres (35,764 hectares) in sparsely populated wooded areas of Napa and Yolo Counties.

 

Some 3,660 firefighters faced with inaccessible terrain, high temperatures and low humidity, were battling the fire, which was only 48 percent contained. It has destroyed 10 structures, damaged two and threatened 110.

 

In Colorado, officials said fire crews had made "much progress" battling the Spring Creek fire, which broke out on June 27 and has consumed 106,985 acres (43,295 hectares). It was 43 percent contained on Saturday, the officials said.

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-07-08

 

 

[oldrunner]

Why have the news media stopped referencing the fire started by the Illegal alien (as in Senor border jumper). He'll be charged with Murder is anyone dies as a result of his criminal act. As it is, he will only be charged with property destruction.

[thaibeachlovers]

Seems that the last stories of fire in California were hardly any time ago. Didn't they learn anything from them? Why do we hear time after time that people are fleeing fires? If people are allowed to build in among trees, what else do they expect? Either stop building in fire prone areas or cut the trees down.

[Scott]

4 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Seems that the last stories of fire in California were hardly any time ago. Didn't they learn anything from them? Why do we hear time after time that people are fleeing fires? If people are allowed to build in among trees, what else do they expect? Either stop building in fire prone areas or cut the trees down.

I am going to give you a pass this time, but the next nonsensical troll post will get you a suspension.  

 

I lived in an area with open prairie and prairie fires also destroyed homes and farms.   If you check many of the fires in Arizona that destroy a lot of property, they are hardly forests.  

 

 

[Odysseus123]

6 hours ago, Scott said:

I am going to give you a pass this time, but the next nonsensical troll post will get you a suspension.  

 

I lived in an area with open prairie and prairie fires also destroyed homes and farms.   If you check many of the fires in Arizona that destroy a lot of property, they are hardly forests.  

 

 

My friends who live about half way between San Francisco and Sacramento are bracing themselves for yet another season as fires are in the Napa valley.Last year the fires were stopped about a mile from their home.

 

As you say the area is not heavily wooded but the dryness and high temperatures combine to create a deadly conflagration.

 

In my home town in Australia three firefighters lost their lives whilst fighting a bushfire in what was very open grassland with only a few trees dotted about.

[utalkin2me]

Interestingly, they don't have this rampant fire problem in Mexico where they have developed a miraculous solution: they let natural fires burn. They have actually purposfully burned the ozarks from what i understand, based on advice from population geneticists. And it works. It is amazing the solution to wildfires is essentially to do nothing, and that we create the problem by building up huge unnatural mounds of potential fire energy. Maybe there is no easy answer, but the Mexicans sure do have this figured at a cost of a whopping 0 to their tax payers.