Apprentice utility worker dies near Calif. blaze, officials say

CLEARLAKE, Calif. — A utility worker was killed near a Northern California wildfire as crews working in sweltering conditions battled multiple blazes, including twin fires that exploded in size and forced hundreds more to evacuate rural communities, officials said Sunday.

The Pacific Gas and Electric employee was fatally injured in a vehiclerelated accident Saturday on the western edge of the Carr Fire in Shasta County, said utility spokeswoman Melissa Subbotin.

Jairus Ayeta, who was in his 20s, worked as an apprentice lineman and was part of a PG&E crew working in “dangerous terrain” to restore power, she said.

Ayeta is the seventh person to die in the immense blaze that has been burning for two weeks near Redding, where armies of firefighters and fleets of aircraft continue battling the flames about 100 miles south of the Oregon state line.

Two firefighters and four residents, including two children, were also killed. The fire was more than 40 percent contained Sunday.

Meanwhile to the south, new evacuations were ordered over the weekend near twin fires in Mendocino and Lake counties across wilderness on both sides of Clear Lake. Dry, hot winds fueled both blazes, which have collectively charred nearly 400 square miles of brush and timber. The so-called Mendocino Complex Fire is now one of the largest on record in the state, officials said.

The Ranch Fire was 22 percent contained and the River Fire was 50 percent contained. New evacuations were ordered in neighboring Glenn and Colusa counties, including an area just east of the boundary of Mendocino National Forest.

About 15,000 structures were threatened, 68 homes have been destroyed and at least a dozen are damaged, officials said.

The fire remained several miles from the evacuated communities along the eastern shore of the lake, but “it looks like there’s dicey weather on the way,” California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokeswoman Jane LaBoa said.

President Donald Trump tweeted Sunday that the California wildfires are “being magnified & made so much worse by the bad environmental laws which aren’t allowing massive amount of readily available water to be properly utilized.”

Trump said the water is being diverted into the Pacific Ocean.

The president also called for clearing trees to stop the fires from spreading.

The tweet came a day after Gov. Jerry Brown called on Trump to help the state deal with the deadly and destructive wildfire season.

Brown said he is hopeful Trump will issue a socalled Presidential Major Disaster Declaration for California. The declaration would help fire victims with unemployment assistance, food aid and legal and mental health counseling among other federal programs.

“The president has been pretty good on helping us in disasters, so I’m hopeful,” Brown said. “Tragedies bring people together.”

There are at least 18 major fires burning in California, authorities said. In all, they have destroyed hundreds of homes and killed eight people.