California wildfires wreak havoc Baby survives toilet fall

THOUSANDS of firefighters battled raging wildfires Sunday in droughtparched California, where officials evacuated entire neighbourhoods and closed kilometres of highway in the path of the inferno, which has claimed at least one life.

Some 6 000 homes were evacuated as 21 large fires burned in the bonedry western US state, which is in the throes of a historic drought. A total of 49 000 hectares of land have burned so far, according to figures provided by the state.

Governor Jerry Brown’s office said that some 9 600 people were battling the fires early Sunday.

Dry lightning strikes sparked most of the fires, while the causes of others remained unknown. But authorities said they did not suspect foul play.

Thousands of lightning bolts since Thursday caused hundreds of smaller fires throughout the state, but most of the blazes were concentrated in the north, California fire chiefs said.

“Our firefighters have been working extensively throughout the last two weeks, working hard to contain these fires. The weather has not been so kind,” Cal Fire spokeswoman Lynnette Round told AFP.

“The dry, warm windy conditions then the dry lightning hitting, it just fuels those fires.”

Brown’s office said neighbouring Nevada and Colorado had also committed resources to battle the blazes. A total of 24 homes and 26 outbuildings, which included barns and sheds, were destroyed in the community of Lower Lake, home to the picturesque Mendocino National Forest.

Cal Fire said the Rocky fire had grown to 49 000 hectares and was only 5% contained. Its cause was still under investigation, the agency said. Stretches of Highway 20 were closed in both directions, spelling weekend travel misery for motorists.

But late Sunday, Cal Fire had some better news on other fronts: the Lowell fire, in Nevada county, was 85% contained; the Wragg fire in Napa was 95% contained; and the Fern fire in Shasta county was 60% contained.

Witnesses described dramatic scenes as thick smoke from the giant fire turned day into night and flames swallowed up large tracts of woodland and forest.

Vehicles had been left to the flames, abandoned and burnt-out.

On Friday, Brown declared a state of emergency and the California National Guard was called in.

Firefighter Dave Ruhl, 38, from South Dakota, was killed Thursday while fighting the Frog fire in the Modoc National Forest. — AFP A NEWBORN baby girl was abandoned in a Beijing public toilet and fell head-first down the pipe, reports said yesterday, after her mother apparently gave birth in the facility.

Members of the public were alerted by the baby’s cries, the Beijing Times reported, and a police officer reached down the pipe to extract the girl.

She was taken to a hospital in the capital but did not appear to have any physical disabilities, according to the report.

Blood around the toilet bowl and the fact that her parents did not report her trapped indicated that she had been born in the toilet and abandoned there, it said. Police were trying to find her parents. — AFP