New wildfires sweep through California, burning homes
LOS ANGELES — Firefighters toiled in stifling heat Saturday on the lines of destructive wildfires across the U.S. West, making progress against some blazes while struggling to tame others that have forced evacuations of hundreds of homes.
In heat-stricken Southern California, powerful winds that sent an overnight inferno hopscotching through the Santa Barbara County community of Goleta vanished in the morning, allowing firefighters to extinguish smoldering ruins of an estimated 20 structures, including homes.
“It’s really given us a good opportunity to get in there and get some work done,” said county fire Capt. Dave Zaniboni.
The fire’s spread was stopped at about 100 acres or less and teams were working on an accurate tally of damage in the neighborhood, where some houses were in ruins while homes next door were intact.
Eric Durtschi stood outside his destroyed house, where a burned- out car stood in the driveway and kids’ bicycles were strewn about.
Durtschi, his wife and six children had left Utah and moved in just a few weeks ago. He said he hadn’t yet told his two oldest children their home was gone. He managed to collect his severely burned vintage guns, hoping to salvage them.
A neighbor’s home across the street was spared. The man had stayed through the night spraying down other people’s houses.
Elsewhere in Southern California, firefighters increased containment of a central San Diego County fire that rapidly spread over 400 acres, destroyed 18 structures and damaged eight, and a wildfire in the San Bernardino National Forest was holding at 1.5 square miles and forced evacuation of about 700 homes in the mountain community of Forest Falls.
Fires also burned on the Marine Corps’ sprawling Camp Pendleton base in northern San Diego County.
The Southern California fires erupted Friday as strong high pressure over the West spawned an epic heat wave that saw parts of Los Angeles broil in temperatures up to 117 degrees. There was little relief overnight.
“Temperatures at 8 a.m. were ridiculously over 100 degrees” in foothills near Forest Falls and many inland valleys, the National Weather Service said.
Forecasters said the region’s siege of heat would gradually ease through the weekend, but the unstable air mass unleashed downpours that triggered flashflood warnings for the mountains northeast of Los Angeles.