Latest News: Firefighting evacuations in California | California News



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PARADISE, California (AP) – Latest news on California wildfires (local time):

Southern California authorities are raising evacuation orders in a forest fire zone.

Ventura County Sheriff Bill Ayub announced Saturday that evacuations would be lifted after a day of calm winds and progress against the smaller of the two forest fires that have been burning since Thursday.

Sheriff officials said the evacuations were canceled in the community of Camarillo Springs, parts of Newbury Park and the Cal State Channel Islands area.

We do not know how many people are allowed to go home. But this is only a small fraction of the hundreds of thousands of people evacuated from both flames and the return of dangerous winds Sunday could keep them out of their homes for several days.

According to the authorities, two people found dead in a forest fire in southern California were badly burned and seated in a vehicle at a standstill.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Chief, John Benedict, said at a press conference Saturday that the vehicle was sitting on a long residential driveway in Malibu when he was found.

Authorities had announced deaths earlier in the day, but no details were provided. Benoît did not say anything about the identity of the two dead people.

County Fire Chief Daryl Osby said the fire had not increased beyond the 109 square miles he had already burned, and that 5% of firefighters are under control.

The sheriff's deputies found human remains in at least five homes as they traveled from house to house in the city of Paradise, northern California, in search of the missing.

Teams of deputies worked Saturday with corpses teams to examine the rubble of burned houses. It was unclear whether the remains found Saturday added to the nine deaths already reported by the Butte County Sheriff's Department.

The sheriff's department did not immediately respond to a phone call to obtain more information. Officials were to give a briefing Saturday night with the latest figures.

Paradise, which has 27,000 inhabitants, was destroyed by fire.

When the fire broke out in Paradise, Jake Olsen, responsible for protecting fish and wildlife, was one of the many law enforcement officers who rushed into a retirement home to evacuate the infirm. He piled three patients into his van and his partner was mounted under a fire blanket in the bed with a fourth patient.

Meanwhile, the heavenly house where he lived with his wife and four children was burned down. Similarly Olsen's parents. And the house of his wife's parents has also disappeared. The heavenly home of his sister-in-law has also been destroyed.

On Saturday, his colleague helped him rummage through the rubble and find his wife's alliance.

A few minutes later, she called to check and he told her the good news in tears.

"It's something," he says with a sad smile.

His wife told Olsen where she had left her ring in their room, and it's there that she was found next to her gun rifle containing firearms melted into the fire .

All that remained was the horses for a rancher from Southern California.

Arik Fultz and his family spent the Saturday morning digging the charred remains of their 20-hectare ranch near Malibu, but nothing was left behind after the fires that ravaged southern California destroyed at least 150 houses.

Fultz told the Associated Press that it was amazing to see all this disappearing 24 hours after everything went well.

Fultz and his family lost two houses, two barns, three caravans and dozens of goods.

All 52 of their horses survived. Most came out of the flames on open pastures.

Alyssa Milano says her home was spared by a forest fire in southern California that forced her family to evacuate.

The actress tweeted on Saturday that her house "is still standing" a day after she and thousands of other people were forced to evacuate in a hurry due to the fact that she was not safe. fire spreading rapidly.

On Friday, Milano asked for help to evacuate his five horses and tell them he and his family were safe.

Many stars are waiting to know the fate of their homes and their precious belongings. Rainn Wilson tweeted Saturday that the flames approached about ten meters from his home, but they were spared. Lady Gaga tweeted Friday night to say that she did not know the state of her home.

The authorities said that more than 150 houses had burned in the fire and that number would likely increase.

President Donald Trump takes a more empathic tone by tweeting about the devastating fires of California.

Earlier Saturday, the president threatened to suspend federal payments to California, saying the management of his forest was "very bad." He also commented that "there is no reason for these massive, deadly and expensive fires in California". And he blamed what he called "blatant mismanagement of forests".

By the end of Saturday afternoon, Trump's tone had changed. In a tweet, he noted that tens of thousands of acres had been burned and said, "Our heart is with those who fight the fires, the 52,000 evacuees and the families of the 11 dead.

Trump concluded by saying, "God bless them all."

The president is in Paris for events commemorating the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War.

The president of the California fire fighters' union said President Donald Trump's threat of withholding federal funds for California was "shameful" and "dangerously wrong".

In his first comment on forest fires, Trump tweeted on Saturday "so many lives lost, all because of poor forest management … Remedy now, or more payments from the Fed!"

California's professional firefighter president, Brian Rice, said the "shameful attack" against California was an attack against thousands of firefighters on the front lines.

Rice states that Trump's assertion that California's forest management policies are causing the catastrophic wildfire is "dangerously wrong".

He points out that forest fires are caused and spread "by arid vegetation, high winds, low humidity and geography".

Rice says that natural disasters are neither red nor blue, "they destroy without distinction of party".

Jan McGregor returned to his two-bedroom cottage in Paradise on Saturday with the help of his grandson firefighter, who escorted him to roadblocks.

McGregor, 81, found his home leveled and three of his cars burned.

The fire was not a complete surprise for McGregor, who has lived in this heavily wooded city since he was a child.

He said "we knew it was going to happen, we did not know when."

McGregor lived in paradise for 80 years after moving there in 1939, when the city had only 3,000 people and was nicknamed Poverty Ridge.

McGregor said that he would probably not rebuild, even though he had insurance and was planning to leave the country to live with other family members.

He adds, "I have nothing here to return to."

Authorities in northern California ordered residents to leave four small communities southeast of a city ravaged by a deadly fire.

The Butte County Sheriff's Office issued an evacuation order on Saturday from the communities of Berry Creek, Bush Creek, Mountain House and Bloomer Hill.

More than 50,000 people were displaced by the fire that killed at least nine people and devastated the city of Paradise, where all 27,000 residents were ordered to evacuate.

Authorities say weather conditions help them gain ground, but are preparing for high winds that could spread fire in other communities.

National Meteorological Service meteorologist Alex Hoon said the area will see winds as high as 30 km / h (48 km / h) and ridges that can reach gusts of up to 80 km / h (80 km / h). / h) from Saturday evening.

A farm owner said she had stayed at home during evacuations for a forest fire raging in northern California in order to save her 14 horses and other animals.

Cathy Fallon says she was able to save all her horses and barn using a watering hose. But two of his dogs and nine cats died in the fire that decimated the city of Paradise.

Fallon says her house was burned down and her husband was hospitalized after fearing a heart attack. She says that he will be fine.

Fallon said that she and her son, Gabriel, were sleeping in a horse stall since the fire swept away Paradise on Thursday.

A fire chief said the houses and other buildings in the city of Paradise were still burning and teams were working to extinguish them.

California Department of Forests and Fire Protection Scott McLean said on Saturday that a deadly forest fire was still burning in parts of Paradise and the nearby community of Magalia. The fire destroyed more than 6,400 homes and killed at least nine people.

He added that thick smoke prevented planes from dropping liquid extinguishers on Friday, but the smoke dissipated would allow crews to fight the flames before the wind came up on Saturday night.

McLean says more than 3,000 firefighters are progressing and more staff are on their way.

A fire chief said two wildfires in southern California had caused considerable losses, but thousands of homes had been saved.

Los Angeles County Fire Chief Daryl Osby said Saturday that firefighters had told him that they were working in the toughest and most extreme conditions that they experienced in their lives on Friday night. .

He says conditions are much better on Saturday, with a lull in the winds that should return Sunday.

Osby did not specify the number of houses burned. The authorities said that 150 houses had burned and that their number would increase.

The fire chief has urged thousands of people to order the evacuation in order to stay away from Malibu and other communities outside of Los Angeles.

The authorities claim that two people were found dead in the fire zone.

Actor Martin Sheen said that the fire that ravaged the coastal community of Malibu in southern California was the worst he had ever seen.

The actor "West Wing" was interviewed Friday night on the beach by the Los Angeles Fox subsidiary, KTTV, after being evacuated from his neighboring home. He says he expects that his house has been destroyed and that he has never seen a fire burn with such intensity.

The TV channel found Sheen after her son, Charlie Sheen, tweeted Friday night that he was not able to contact his parents. Martin Sheen urged his family to let him know that his wife, Janet, and he were safe and planned to sleep in their car at the beach.

Authorities say the firefighters are tired but are doing everything they can to forestall a deadly fire in northern California before the wind rises.

The head of the operations section of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, Josh Bischof, told firefighter crews Saturday that they had done a good job on Friday, but "we must stop this … (and) be ready for the change of wind tonight ".

The northern blaze that began Thursday cremated most of Paradise, a city of 27,000, with flames moving so quickly that firefighters could do nothing.

Captain Scott McLean, of Cal Fire, said the crews had stopped attacking the flames instead of helping people get out alive.

More than 3,000 firefighters fight the fire that killed at least nine people.

The head of the Los Angeles County Sheriff, John Benedict, said that two people had been found dead in the fire zone of a fire in southern California.

These deaths are the first of a pair of wildfires that have devastated 109 square miles and destroyed more than 150 homes since Thursday in the north and west of downtown Los Angeles.

Benedict gave no details about the dead. He said Saturday's Sheriff's detectives were investigating.

Eleven people have now been killed by forest fires in California. Nine were found dead in fires in northern California.

The size of a forest fire in southern California has more than doubled and firefighters are looking for neighborhoods destroyed by fire, looking for further destruction following a fire that has already destroyed 150 houses.

Officials took advantage of the calm Saturday morning to assess the damage and get a new map of a fire that has now burned 109 square kilometers (282 square kilometers) in the hills and canyons to the north and west. from downtown Los Angeles.

Research in cities such as Thousand Oaks and Malibu will certainly do more damage and the number of houses burned should increase.

A haze of smoke still hangs in the blue skies of the region on Saturday, with the vicious winds that pushed the flames in their first two days and should stay away until Sunday.

Firefighters strive to take advantage of the best conditions to begin to control the fire.

Authorities say better weather conditions help them gain ground in the face of a deadly fire that razed a city in northern California, but are preparing for high winds that could threaten another community.

The California Department of Forests and Fire Protection has announced that strong winds are expected to return Saturday night and propel the fire south over Lake Oroville, threatening Oroville, a city of 19,000 inhabitants.

National Meteorological Meteorologist Alex Hoon said the area would be subject to sustained winds of up to 30 km / h (48 km / h) and gusts of up to 80 km / h (50 mph).

The fire that began Thursday outside the mountainous city of Paradise has reached 156 square kilometers (404 square kilometers). Officials say the city has been completely destroyed.

Officials said that a deadly fire that razed a city in northern California has spread overnight, but that crews have also taken control of the flames.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said Saturday that the forest fires had expanded to 40 km (156 square miles), but that they were under control at 20. %.

According to Cal Fire, the fire that started on Thursday in the hills near the city of Paradise destroyed 6,453 homes and 260 businesses. 15,000 additional structures are under threat. At least nine people died.

According to officials, more than 3,000 firefighters are battling with fire, the most destructive forest fire in California since the start of record keeping.

President Donald Trump threatens to suspend federal payments to California, saying the management of his forest is "so bad."

Trump said Saturday via Twitter that "there is no reason for these massive, deadly and expensive fires in California." Trump says that "billions of dollars are donated every year, with so many lives lost, all because of the blatant mismanagement of the forests." Remedy now, or more of the Fed's payments!

The comments were the first for Trump about massive wildfires, including a fire that cremated most of the city of Paradise in northern California and killed at least nine people.

Fires have also raged in southern California, including the town of Thousand Oaks, where an armed man killed a dozen people in a bar in the neighborhood.

Trump had previously issued an emergency statement providing federal funds to help firefighters.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, disseminated, rewritten or redistributed.

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