California wildfires force thousands from homes
Blazes sweep through nearly 50,000 acres as firefighters, U.S. government increase efforts
Thousands of firefighters were battling wildfires Monday in Southern and Central California that have burned through nearly 50,000 acres and prompted thousands of people to evacuate their homes, the authorities said.
One of the blazes, called “the Sand Fire,” broke out Friday in the Santa Clarita area and burned deeper into the mountains above Los Angeles over the weekend. It was about 10 percent contained, the United States Forest Service said Monday morning. The moving wall of flames had scorched more than 33,000 acres and had forced about 20,000 residents from their homes, the Los Angeles County Fire Department said.
A separate fire in the Big Sur area, on the central coast, had spread to nearly 15,000 acres by Monday morning, officials said.
The cause of both fires was still being investigated.
An unidentified burned body was found in a car parked in a Santa Clarita driveway, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Deputy Mike Barraza said by phone Monday that the department was awaiting the results of an autopsy.
The authorities in Monterey County — population over 415,000 — expanded their evacuation orders as the fire continued to spread from the Palo Colorado Canyon and Garrapata State Park regions. Up to 1,650 structures were in danger, officials said.
Teams of firefighters — about 3,000 total — have been battling both blazes since Friday. In the Angeles National Forest area, firefighters were also contending with rising temperatures and high winds. High temperatures, up to 98 degrees, with 60 percent humidity, were expected on Monday, with winds up to 25 miles per hour.
The hazards were amplified as firefighters battled the blaze on extremely steep, forested terrain, and power lines had fallen onto some roads, said Karina Gutierrez, a spokeswoman with the National Forest Service.
Amid the rising danger, the U.S. Interior Department announced the kickoff of the pilot project Monday that uses a smartphone app and real-time wildfire information to create virtual boundaries, or geofences, that drones can’t cross — the first national system intended to prevent hobby drones from interfering with planes and helicopters fighting the blazes.
Officials say drones colliding with firefighting aircraft could be catastrophic. Planes and helicopters have been grounded numerous times this year because of drones, most recently on Sunday in Southern California’s Santa Clarita Valley where 10,000 homes are threatened by fire.
The Los Angeles Fire Department deputy chief, John Tripp, said Monday that hundreds of fire engines were brought in to combat the fast-moving flames.
“The fire wants to get up; it wants to run,” he said at a televised news conference.
At least four evacuation centers were opened — including in a fairground, a college and a high school — and many residents were arriving with large animals, particularly horses.
Experts say wildfires in the U.S. are becoming more destructive, with the increase in recent years attributed to a warming climate, suppression tactics and the building of homes in fireprone areas.
“There has been a pretty intense drought for years,” Jonathan Pangburn, a State Cal Fire spokesman with the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said. “This last winter and spring we had pretty close to average rainfalls, but it was nowhere near enough to counter the intense drought.”