New forest fires sweep California, burning homes

A helicopter from the Los Angeles County Fire Department drops water over a bush fire that erupted on a mountain above the suburbs of Burbank, California on Saturday, July 7, 2018. The Burbank police ordered evacuations in the area. It was one of many fires burning in California that forced firefighters to work in a sweltering heat. AP

LOS ANGELES, USA – Firefighters worked Saturday in sweltering heat on devastating forest fire lines across the western United States, battling some fires that forced hundreds of homes to evacuate. Southern California, violent winds that caused a night of hell in the community of Goleta, in Santa Barbara County, disappeared in the morning, allowing firefighters to extinguish the steaming ruins of their homes. about 20 structures, including houses.

Orders were drastically reduced and many of the 2,500 people who fled Friday night could go home late in the afternoon.

County Fire Chief Eric Peterson thanked the residents for responding to the call. only rescues.

"There would have been very likely deaths last night if these evacuations had not occurred." The fire spread was stopped at about 100 acres (40.5 hectares) in an area where some Houses were in ruins while the houses next door were intact.

Eric Durtschi was standing in front of his destroyed house, where a burned car stood in the driveway and the children's bicycles were scattered.

Durtschi, his wife and six children had left Utah and had moved there a few weeks ago. He said that he had not yet told his two older children that their house was gone. He managed to recover his badly burned old weapons, in the hope of saving them.

The house of a neighbor on the other side of the street was spared. Elsewhere in Southern California, firefighters have reinforced the containment of a central fire in San Diego County that has quickly spread over 400 acres (162 hectares), destroyed 18 structures and has damaged eight, and a forest fire in the San Bernardino National Forest stood at 404 hectares and the forced evacuation of about 700 homes in the mountain community of Forest Falls.

Fires also burned on the sprawling base of the Pendleton Marine Corps in the north. San Diego County

Among the new fires on Saturday, a fire broke out on a steep mountain slope just above the Burbank suburb of Los Angeles and helicopters pounded it with fire. water to prevent it from skidding

Fires began to rage on Friday, while strong pressure on the West spawned an epic heat wave that saw parts of Los Angeles grill at temperatures up to 117 degrees (47.2 degrees Celsius). "The temperatures at 8 am were ridiculously over 100 degrees" in the foothills near Forest Falls and many inland valleys, according to the National Weather Service.

Forecasters said the weekend's siege, the unstable mass of air triggered showers that triggered flash flood warnings for the mountains northeast of Los Angeles .

Further north and just south of the California-Oregon-kilometer border The Klamathon fire in rural Siskiyou County was just contained by 5 percent. The body of a resident was found Friday in the ruins of a house, among 15 destroyed structures accounted for up to here.

Authorities described "extreme fire behavior with movement in several directions", with threats to the Californian communities of Hornbrook and Hilt. as well as Colestin, Oregon. Ray Haupt, chairman of the county's supervisory board, said the losses included homes and livestock.

Elsewhere in California, the County Fire of 138 square miles (357 square kilometers) northwest of Sacramento was confined to almost 50%. Ten structures were counted destroyed but damage assessments continued.

With fires occurring in the state, a Colorado-based Boeing 747-400 supertanker was deployed in California.

Scott McLean, Deputy Chief of the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, says the Supertanker was undergoing checks on an airfield outside Sacramento

Software issues had to be solved before the # 1 39 aircraft owned by Global SuperTanker Services Colorado Springs may be activated under a contract of appeal if needed

Meanwhile, the authorities have authorized the return of some residents who fled a forest fire near a popular fishing lake 130 kilometers (130 miles) southeast of Salt Lake City. The fire burned about 75 square miles (193 square kilometers) and destroyed 90 structures, including houses, cabins, sheds and garages, since Sunday in the mountains.

In Colorado, firefighters took advantage of occasional rains to expand their containment In the south, Saturday, crews contained about 45% of a 433-square-kilometer fire that destroyed more than 130 homes, while In the Rockies, firefighters 20 states were battling a 8 square kilometer (22 square kilometer) forest fire over the Roaring Fork Valley. Commanders said they hoped for a third of confinement by the end of Sunday.

Crews also confined 50% of a southwestern Colorado light that blackened 85 square miles (220 square kilometers) north of Durango. Authorities said Saturday that afternoon storms could cause floods and mudslides in scars from burns.

And in Park County, Central Colorado, teams surrounded one-third of a fire. A stretch of US Highway 285 between Fairplay and Antero Junction reopened on Saturday. / cbb

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