Fire complex a California record
Mendocino blazes burn 443 square miles, gaining ground round the clock
Twin Northern California blazes grew on Monday to become the largest wildfire in California history, scorching more than 443 square miles and frustrating firefighters as it continues to leap across natural and man-made barriers in Lake County, officials said.
The Ranch and River fires, which are burning a few miles apart and are known as the Mendocino Complex fire, ignited July 27 and encompass an area the size of Los Angeles. It’s the second straight year that California has recorded the state’s largest wildfire. It was only 30 percent contained as of 7 a.m. Pacific time Monday, but officials said they expect to achieve full containment by next week.
The complex fire surpassed the Thomas fire, which burned through more than 440 square miles in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties late last year. It killed two people, including a firefighter, and destroyed more than 1,000 buildings before being fully contained on Jan. 12.
Officials said the Mendocino Complex fire has continued to grow by thousands of acres each day, even at night, when most fires normally calm down.
Crews did make progress over the weekend against one of the two blazes in the Mendocino Complex with help from water-dropping aircraft, Cal Fire operations chief Charlie Blankenheim said in a video on Facebook.
But the other one is growing after spreading into the Mendocino National Forest.
The fire has prompted evacuations in Mendocino, Lake and Colusa counties, but it has been less destructive to property than some of the other dozen-plus wildfires burning across the state because it continues to rage in remote areas.
But the fire’s sheer size and rate of spread is the latest signal of a remarkable fire year for California.
“It is extremely fast, extremely aggressive, extremely dangerous,” said Scott McLean, a deputy chief with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
“Look how big it got, just in a matter of days.… Look how fast this Mendocino Complex went up in ranking. That doesn’t happen. That just doesn’t happen.”
Years of drought have created ripe conditions for largescale wildfires that spread rapidly. Of the five largest wildfires in state history, four have occurred since 2012.
Hotter weather attributed to climate change is also drying out vegetation, creating more intense fires that spread quickly from rural areas to city subdivisions, climate and fire experts say. But they also blame cities and towns that are expanding housing into previously undeveloped areas.
More than 14,000 firefighters are battling over a dozen major blazes throughout California, McLean said.
“I can remember a couple of years ago when we saw 10 to 12,000 firefighters in the states of California, Oregon and Washington and never the 14,000 we see now,” he said.
There are 18 large wildfires burning across California now, scarring a combined 873 square miles, officials have said. In Redding, the Carr fire has claimed seven lives and more than 1,000 homes while growing to roughly 250 square miles in size. Rescue crews there have been repeatedly hamstrung by intense heat and difficult terrain.
It was nearly halfway contained, Cal Fire said.
Another blaze that broke out last week has damaged a historic Northern California resort in the Stanislaus National Forest. The nearly century-old Dardanelle Resort has sustained massive structural damage, though the details were unclear, the Sacramento Bee newspaper reported.
The rustic lodge 180 miles east of San Francisco is nestled in the Sierra Nevada mountains and offers cabin and motel rentals along with RV sites, a store and restaurant.
The U.S. Forest Service reported that the fire crossed a highway Sunday evening, forcing crews to retreat from the fire’s edge.
The resort owners said in a Facebook post that “at this point it has been confirmed that there is ‘massive structural damage.’ We are heartbroken and struggling with this news.”
As the fires raged in Northern California, meteorologists issued red flag warnings in the Los Angeles area, where temperatures will reach the triple digits in several neighborhoods and cities early in the week.
Woodland Hills could see a high of 108, while Santa Clarita and Burbank could all see the mercury rise above 100 before today, according to the National Weather Service. Farther north, other cities that could experience 100-degree-plus heat are Ojai in Ventura County and Paso Robles in San Luis Obispo County.