Calif. winds shift as firefighters battle 14 large blazes in state
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — California weather was heating up and winds were shifting Thursday as more than 14,000 firefighters battled wildfires up and down the state, including a major blaze they hoped to keep out of the Lake Tahoe resort region.
Onshore winds from the west and southwest were changing direction to offshore, blowing out of the north or northeast, and fire weather watches were to go into effect in Northern California by the end of the week, the National Weather Service said.
The Caldor Fire, the nation’s top-priority for firefighting resources, grew to more than 213 square miles southwest of Lake Tahoe but containment remained at 12%, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Smoke stained the normally blue skies over the alpine lake but the pollution level Thursday morning was reduced to “unhealthy,” down two levels of severity from 24 hours earlier when it was “hazardous,” according to the U.S. Air Quality Index.
Assigned resources have grown to nearly 2,900 firefighters, 21 helicopters, 245 engines and dozens of bulldozers since the early days of the fire, which began Aug. 14, and suddenly exploded, gutting the community of Grizzly Flat.
Ongoing damage assessments have counted 637 homes, businesses and other structures destroyed.
Statewide there were 14 large fires, including a blaze that erupted Wednesday in Southern California, which has so far escaped the scale of wildfires plaguing the north all summer.
The South Fire about 45 miles east of Los Angeles covered 700 acres after destroying 18 homes, commercial and other structures. Fire activity decreased after the early hours but it remained uncontained on mountain slopes.
In the southern Sierra Nevada, the 9-day-old French Fire covered more than 34 square miles and was 19% contained. Some structures were seen burning in Sequoia National Forest and it posed threat to numerous communities on the west side of Lake Isabella, a popular outdoor recreation area northeast of Bakersfield.
Meanwhile, California’s Dixie Fire, the second-largest in state history at 1,167 square miles was 45% contained in the Sierra-cascades region about 65 miles north of the Caldor Fire. Nearly 700 homes were among almost 1,300 buildings that have been destroyed since the fire began in early July.
Nationally, 88 large fires were burning Thursday in 13 mainly Western states, according to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho.
WWII pilot’s remains: The remains of a World War II pilot whose body was lost in Europe’s Adriatic Sea have been recovered and will be buried in his home state of Maine, the U.S. Department of Defense said Thursday.
The remains of U.S. Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. Ernest N. Vienneau were accounted for in April and will be buried in his hometown of Millinocket on Oct. 9, the Defense POW/ MIA Accounting Agency said. Vienneau was 25 at the time of his death.
Vienneau had been based in Italy, and a bomber on which he served as co-pilot came under fire over present-day Slovenia on Nov. 6, 1944, the Defense Department
said. Vienneau was mortally wounded, and the pilot was forced to ditch the bomber off Vis Island, Croatia. His body could not be recovered from the sinking bomber, the department said.
The wreck of the bomber was found in a dive in 2017, the department said. Possible remains were recovered and submitted for analysis in fall 2020, it said. Dental records and other evidence confirmed they belonged to Vienneau.
Tropical Storm Ida: A depression strengthened into a tropical storm in the Caribbean on Thursday and is forecast to become a major hurricane by the time it reaches the northern U.S. Gulf Coast over the next several days.
Both the Cuban and Cayman governments have issued tropical storm warnings amid the formation of Tropical Storm Ida.
Ida is forecast to be a hurricane when it approaches western Cuba and the southeastern
Gulf of Mexico on Friday, and a major hurricane by the time it reaches the northern Gulf Coast on Sunday, the center said. The central Gulf Coast should start to see rain from the storm by early Sunday.
The storm is forecast to deliver anywhere from 6 to 12 inches of rain over parts of Jamaica, Cuba and the Cayman islands. Forecasters warned of possible flash floods and mudslides and a storm surge of as much as 2 to 4 feet above normal, along with “large and destructive waves.”
Murder hornets: Officials in Washington state said Thursday that they had destroyed the first Asian giant hornet nest of the season, which was located near the town of Blaine along the Canadian border. The Washington state Department of Agriculture said it eradicated the nest Wednesday.
The nest was located in the base of a dead alder tree
in rural Whatcom County, about 2 miles from a nest the agency eradicated last October and about one-quarter mile from where a resident reported a live sighting of an Asian giant hornet Aug. 11. The site is about one-quarter mile from the Canadian border.
The Asian giant hornets are sometimes called murder hornets because they prey on other bees. Asian giant hornets are the world’s largest hornet and are not native to North America. They prey on honeybees and other insects. They can conduct mass attacks on honeybee hives, destroying the hive in a matter of hours. The hornets were first detected in the United States in 2019 when a hornet was reported in Whatcom County.
The 2-inch-long invasive insects pose a threat to honeybees and native hornet species. While not particularly aggressive toward humans, their sting is extremely painful and
repeated stings, though rare, can kill.
Kenya crane collapse: Nine people were killed and a worker injured Thursday after a crane collapsed at a high-rise construction site in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi police said.
Officer Muturi Mbogo said the crane collapsed while it was being dismantled by workers. He said the collapse is under investigation.
A worker at the site, Michael Odhiambo, said the crane fell after its work was completed on the 14th floor. “It seems they did not realize the nuts tying it were loose,” he said of fellow workers. “We heard a loud bang, only to realize the crane was down.”
Two Chinese engineers were among the victims, Odhiambo said. The project to build a 14-story student hostel is being supervised by a Chinese construction firm that is cooperating with authorities.