Wildfire battle is slowly being won
San Marcos, California – Gusty winds failed to return today in San Diego County wildfire areas and authorities said it was a window of opportunity to make further gains against flames that burned homes and drove tens of thousands from their homes.
Emergency officials said a significant number of firefighting aircraft had become available, including four air tankers and 22 military helicopters.
Ten of the military helicopters were being used to battle a blaze that grew to 24 square kilometres on the Marine Corps’ Camp Pendleton. Despite its growth, the fire was 20 per cent contained and was no longer considered a threat to communities.
Twelve other military helicopters were available to the county, where the biggest concern was a 3- squarekilometre blaze at the city of San Marcos.
That fire was 5 per cent contained and thousands of people remained evacuated, but officials said they were beginning to assess repopulating areas.
Fires began erupting on Wednesday amid high heat, extremely low humidity and gusty Santa Ana winds. By yesterday, nine fires were burning.
Asked about the possibility of arson, county sheriff Bill Gore said he wouldn’t prejudge the investigations.
He noted that sparks from vehicles can easily ignite brush in such dry conditions.
The wildfires forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate their homes and shut down schools and amusement parks, including Legoland.
Firefighters contended with temperatures approaching 38 degrees Celsius and gusty winds as they tried to contain flames fuelled by brush and trees left brittle by drought.
Extremely high temperatures were again expected tomorrow, but winds were expected to be light to moderate.
Efforts were focusing on San Marcos, a university city where hundreds of new evacuation orders were issued. More than 20,000 evacuation notices were sent to residents, and a California State University campus with nearly 10,000 students in the middle of final exams was shut down.
Graduation ceremonies celled.
San Diego County officials said that the blaze had destroyed three homes.
The blaze in the coastal city of Carlsbad, about 50 kilometres north of San Diego, was the most destructive of the fires so far.
Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency for San Diego County.
Drought conditions have made the fire danger extremely high throughout much of California.
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