Choppers pull people from forest fire
Newsom: Pilots needed night-vision goggles to land
SHAVER LAKE, Calif. — More than a dozen California firefighters trying to protect a fire station from flames were overrun by the blaze Tuesday, and several were hurt.
Elsewhere, military helicopters rescued more than 150 people stranded in the burning wilderness.
Fourteen firefighters deployed emergency shelters as flames overtook them and destroyed the Nacimiento Station in the Los Padres National Forest on the state’s central coast, the U.S. Forest Service said.
They suffered from burns and smoke inhalation, and three were flown to a hospital in Fresno, where one was in critical condition.
The injuries came as wind-driven flames of more than two dozen major fires chewed through bone-dry California after a scorching Labor Day weekend that saw a dramatic airlift of more than 200.
Rescue choppers pulled another 164 people from the Sierra National
Forest through the morning and were working to rescue 17 others, said Gov. Gavin Newsom, who described pilots wearing night-vision goggles to find a place to land.
“It’s where training meets the moment, but it always takes the courage, the conviction and the grit of real people doing real work,” said Newsom, who called the fires historic.
California has already set a record with nearly 2.3 million acres burned this year, and the worst part of the wildfire season is just beginning.
The previous acreage record was set just two years ago and included the deadliest wildfire in state history, which was started by power lines and swept through the community of Paradise and killed 85 people.
That 2018 blaze forced the state’s largest utility, Pacific Gas & Electric, to seek bankruptcy protection and guard against new disasters by cutting off power pre-emptively when fire conditions are exceptionally dangerous.
With high and dry winds expected until Wednesday, the utility cut power to 172,000 customers over the weekend and more outages were expected in Northern California.
In Southern California, fires burned in Los Angeles, San Bernardino and San Diego counties, and the forecast called for the arrival of the region’s notorious Santa Ana winds.