Weather helps wildfire battles across the state
Cooler temperatures enable firefighters to get a handle on blazes.
Although a break in the weather has provided firefighters a respite from the scorching heat that has complicated the fight against multiple wildfires in California, a warning of poor air quality remains in effect for much of the Central Valley, the National Weather Service said.
The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District warned of poor air quality in Stanislaus, Merced, Madera, Fresno, Tulare, Kings and Kern counties, the east side of the San Joaquin Valley and the Sierra Nevada and foothill areas because of smoke from the Ferguson fire.
Air pollution control districts in Mariposa and Tuolumne counties have also issued air quality alerts, which will be in effect until the fire is extinguished. As of Monday morning, the Ferguson fire had scorched 96,457 acres and was 86% contained. The fire has also claimed the lives of a bulldozer operator for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and a captain of the Arrowhead Interagency Hotshots.
Exposure to particle pollution can cause serious health problems, aggravate lung disease, cause asthma attacks and acute bronchitis, and increase risk of respiratory infections, the weather service said.
Across the state, slightly cooler temperatures are helping firefighters. Humidity is inching upward because of a weakened highpressure system that forecasters say will persist through Tuesday.
“We’re having a couple of cooler days today and tomorrow, in the upper 90s,” said Jim Bagnall, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Hanford. “Through the latter half of the week, [temperatures are] creeping again upwards.”
In Southern California, firefighters were making headway on the Holy fire in the Cleveland National Forest near Lake Elsinore, raising the containment estimate to 59% on Monday evening.
Firefighters also made progress on the Mendocino Complex fire, the largest in recorded California history, which had burned more than 344,890 acres as of Monday morning. The blaze, made up of the Ranch and River fires, has destroyed 147 homes and is 68% contained, officials said. One firefighter was reported dead Monday.
Containment of the 202,976-acre Carr fire in Redding has reached 61%. That fire has destroyed almost 1,600 structures, including 1,077 homes, and threatened 528 others.
Eight people have died in connection with the Carr fire. They include a Cal Fire mechanic, four Redding residents, a Redding firefighter, a bulldozer operator and a Pacific Gas & Electric utility worker.
On Sunday, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke toured neighborhoods devastated by the flames.
“The president’s right,” Zinke said. “We have to actively manage our forests.”
President Trump has tweeted that California wildfires “are being magnified & made so much worse by the bad environmental laws which aren’t allowing massive amounts of readily available water to be properly utilized.”
“It is being diverted into the Pacific Ocean. Must also tree clear stop fire spreading!” Trump tweeted.
Trump’s tweet attempts to tie the fires ravaging Northern California to complaints by members of the state’s Republican congressional delegation concerning environmental protections that have reduced water deliveries to San Joaquin Valley agriculture. The president’s assertion has been declared incorrect by a number of experts.
Zinke, a former Navy SEAL, walked through an area where a “fire tornado” tipped over a transmission tower, tore tiles off the roofs of homes and uprooted massive trees. In one spot, a fence post was bent around a tree, with the bark on one side sheared off. The devastation was on par with the scenes he saw during his time in Iraq, he said.
sarah.parvini@latimes.com