200 airlifted to safety from Central California blaze
SHAVER LAKE, CALIF. >> More than 200 people were airlifted to safety early Sunday after a fast-moving wildfire trapped them in a popular camping area in California’s Sierra National Forest, one several fires that broke out amid record-breaking, triple-digit temperatures that baked the state.
The California Office of Emergency Services said Black Hawk and Chinook helicopters were used for the rescues, which began late Saturday and continued overnight. At least two people were severely injured and 10 others suffered moderate injuries. Two campers refused rescue and stayed behind, the Madera County Sheriff’s Office said.
A photo tweeted by the National Guard showed at least 20 evacuees crammed inside one helicopter, crouched on the floor clutching their belongings. In another photo taken on the ground from the cockpit, the densely wooded hills surrounding the aircraft were in flames.
The wildfire, named the Creek Fire, started Friday and by Saturday afternoon exploded to 56 square miles, jumped the San Joaquin River and cut off the only road into the Mammoth Pool Campground, U.S. Forest Service spokesman Dan Tune said. At least 2,000 structures were threatened in the area, about 290 miles north of Los Angeles.
Tune said the campers were told to shelter in place until fire crews, aided by water-dropping aircraft, could gain access to the site.
The lake 35 miles northeast of Fresno is surrounded by thick pine forests and is a popular destination for boating and fishing. Bonedry conditions and the hot weather fueled the flames.
“Once the fire gets going, it creates its own weather, adding wind to increase the spread,” Tune said.
Juliana Park recorded video of flames on both sides of her car as she and others fled down a mountain road.
“A backpacking trip cut short by unforeseen thunder, ash rain, and having to drive through literal fire to evacuate #SierraNationalForest in time,” Park tweeted. “Grateful to the SNF ranger who led us down … wish we got her name.”
Lindsey Abbott and her family were guided to safety by a stranger they followed down from their campsite near Whisky Falls.
“It was so hot, you could feel the flames going through the window,” she told KFSN-TV in Fresno.
Ashley Wagner was among those rescued, along with two relatives and a friend. They were trapped in Logan’s Meadow behind Wagner’s Store, a 63-yearold
business run by her aunt that was destroyed.
“My family’s history just went up in flames,” Wagner told the news station.
In Southern California, a fire in the foothills of Yucaipa east of Los Angeles prompted evacuation orders for eastern portions of the city of 54,000 along with several mountain communities. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection,
known as Cal Fire, said the fire scorched at least 4.2 square miles of brush and trees.
Cal Fire said nearly 12,500 firefighters were battling 22 major fires in the state. Despite the heat, firefighters were able to contain two major fires in coastal Monterey County.
California has seen 900 wildfires since Aug. 15, many of them started by an intense series of thousands
of lightning strikes. The blazes have burned more than 1.5 million acres. There have been eight fire
deaths and nearly 3,300 structures destroyed.
The Creek Fire forced the closure of a 915-mega
watt hydropower station in Madera County, further constraining grid resources, the statement said.