Fires still threatening Calif., utility worker killed in area
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 yesterday.
The Pacific Gas and Electric employee was fatally injured in a vehicle-related accident Saturday on the western edge of the Carr fire in Shasta County, utility spokeswoman Melissa Subbotin said. 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. Two firefighters and four residents, including two children, were also killed. The fire was more than 40 percent contained yesterday.
New evacuations were ordered over the weekend near twin fires burning 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 entire so-called Mendocino Complex Fire is now one of the largest on record in the state, officials said. The fires continued to grow at an alarming rate, burning 254,000 acres by yesterday morning and becoming fifth largest in California history.
Officials said 15,000 structures are threatened, 68 homes have burned and another 12 damaged.
The Mendocino Complex is two fires, the Ranch and River, which have burned in separate directions for days.
Despite the growth of the fires, authorities said they are making progress.
On Saturday night, “crews had good success increasing containment on the River fire and containment lines were holding well,” CalFire said in a statement. “The strategic plan and operations throughout the previous day held the fire to limited fire spread.”
The Ranch fire had burned 207,000 acres to the north of Clear Lake and was 23 percent contained; the River fire had burned 47,000 acres to the west of Clear Lake and was 53 percent contained.
The Mendocino Complex fire is approaching the size of the biggest fire ever recorded in California: December’s Thomas fire, which burned 281,000 acres in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.
The Mendocino Complex fire was the most serious of 17 major brush fires burning across California this weekend.
Farther north near Redding, residents began returning Saturday to neighborhoods ravaged by the Carr fire, which has killed six people and destroyed more than 1,000 homes.
More than 4,500 firefighters stationed in two Shasta County base camps have battled the 145,000-acre blaze for nearly two weeks, facing triple-digit temperatures, winds up to 30 mph and desert-dry air.
Gov. Jerry Brown visited the fire command center at the county fairgrounds Saturday. Increased year-round fire activity was “the new normal” for the state, he said. The Trump administration issued a federal disaster declaration to aid the firefighting and recovery effort shortly after the governor requested it.
The large wildfires burning in the state have scorched over 470,000 acres, displaced around 40,000 residents and are being fought by more than 14,000 firefighters from around the state and country.
The Ferguson fire near Yosemite National Park has burned more than 81,000 acres. Yosemite Valley has been closed since July 25.