Triple-digit heat, winds drive fires across state
LAKE ISABELLA — A voracious and deadly wildfire in central California has burned 150 homes, and the toll may rise, fire officials said Saturday.
And triple-digit heat in some parts of the East Bay on Saturday likely played a role in fires there.
In the Altamont Pass east of Livermore, a trio of grass fires combined to burn more than 200 acres Saturday evening and force the temporary closure of westbound Interstate 580 before crews were able to contain the blaze. The first fire was reported around 4 p.m. in the Altamont Pass, according to Battalion Chief Ryan Michaels, with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The fire started in a grassy area near I-580 and traffic was quickly shut down due to heavy smoke.
Firefighters on the ground were assisted by planes that dropped fire retardant on the blaze and bulldozers that made fire breaks on the ground, Michaels said.
“We are making good progress to contain these fires, but the wind is making it difficult,” he said.
The three separate fires, all located east of Livermore, are being referred to as “Grant incident.” As of 6 p.m. the fire had claimed at least 150 acres and was threatening windmills along Altamont Pass.
Meanwhile in Concord, firefighters used aerial bombardments to help subdue a 40-acre grass fire that burned north of Highway 4 near the former Concord Naval Weapons Station on Saturday afternoon.
The tally in Southern California rose from 80 homes as firefighters began going through neighborhoods to count houses and mobile homes incinerated by the blaze.
Entire blocks were reduced to rubble, and at least 2,500 homes remained threatened.
The winds that drove the drove the fire through small southern Sierra Nevada communities calmed by late afternoon, helping firefighters gain access to the fire line. However, hot weather and low humidity remained a worry.
“That’s something we have to keep an eye on. It could spark another disaster,” Kern County fire Engineer Anthony Romero said.
About 1,140 firefighters battled the flames.
Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency, freeing up money and resources to fight the fire and to clean up in the aftermath.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency also authorized the use of funds for firefighting efforts, fire officials said
Since it began Thursday, the fire has swept through 35,711 acres — nearly 56 square miles — of parched brush and timber. It moved so quickly that some residents barely had time to escape — and two didn’t.
An elderly couple apparently was overcome by smoke as they tried to flee, county Sheriff Donny Youngblood said. Their bodies were found Friday, but their names haven’t been released.
Allen Montgomery, 40, who lives across the street from the couple, said he didn’t know their names but understood that the woman was bedridden. Before he fled his home on Friday, Montgomery said he saw the man’s body about 20 feet from the house that was engulfed in flames.
“There was so much smoke you could barely see it,” he said.
Everett Evans, 45, fled Thursday as the fire came down a mountain with a roar toward his South Lake mobile home. “When you hear a freight train, it’s time to leave. You could hear it, you could see it, you could smell it,” he said.
Evans said he knocked on doors to get neighbors to leave. Evans and his father, his son and his son’s girlfriend were in the convoy.
But he has nothing left to come back to. Virtually no homes survived in his neighborhood.
A reporter visiting on Saturday found only a burned flag blowing in the wind on a flagpole above the rubble of Evans’ home.