New fire erupts in Northern California; homes threatened
UPPER LAKE, Calif. — Firefighters struggling to contain destructive Northern California wildfires found themselves facing a new blaze that erupted Tuesday and drove through a rural area near a national forest.
About 60 homes in an old ranching and farming area near Covelo, which is about 180 miles north of San Francisco, were ordered evacuated as the blaze erupted late in the afternoon. Gusty winds quickly drove it through about a square mile of brush and grasslands, oak, pine and timber near Mendocino National Forest, Mendocino County Undersheriff Matthew Kendall said.
“We’re advised that the fire was threatening structures,” he said.
However, there were no immediate reports of homes being burned.
Firefighting aircraft were called in but it was unclear when they might arrive because many already were engaged in other fires, Kendall said.
Some 40 miles to the south, twin fires straddling Mendocino and Lake counties have destroyed at least seven homes and threatened an estimated 12,000 more, fire officials said.
Jessyca Lytle fled a fast-moving Northern California wildfire in 2015 that spared her property but destroyed her mother’s memorabilia-filled home in rural and rugged Lake County.
Less than three years later, Lytle found herself listening to scanner traffic Tuesday and fire-proofing her mother’s new home as another wildfire advanced.
“Honestly, what I’m thinking right now is I just want this to end,” Lytle said, adding that she was “exhausted in every way possible — physically, emotionally, all of that.”
Derek Hawthorne, a firefighter and spokesman for the fire crews, said the hot weather was not ideal but the wind was on their side where he was in the city of Upper Lake.
“It’s blowing into the fire, and it’s kind of blowing it back on itself,” he said.
Elsewhere, the Carr Fire had burned more than 880 homes and killed six people in and around Redding. Another 348 outbuildings were also destroyed, and the blaze is now the seventh most destructive wildfire in California history, fire officials said.
National Park officials said Tuesday the scenic Yosemite Valley and other areas will be closed “at least through Sunday” due to heavy smoke from the so-called Ferguson Fire. The closure began July 25 and had been tentatively scheduled to end Friday.
Park spokesman Scott Gediman said “continuing poor air quality” and ongoing firefighting operations warranted the extension.