Wildfires blackening the golden hills of California grew deadly Friday, killing a firefighter on the far northern end of the state while triggering the evacuations of hundreds of people elsewhere.
The flames, which consumed a handful of homes and threatened hundreds of other structures, prompted Gov. Jerry Brown to declare a state of emergency for all of California on Friday.
In the Modoc National Forest, a firefighter from South Dakota was killed battling a blaze that broke out about a hundred miles south of the Oregon border on Thursday afternoon. It had quickly grown to 800 acres by Friday night.
The U.S. Forest Service said David Ruhl, an engine captain from South Dakota’s Black Hills National Forest who had been working in California since June, died sometime Thursday. His body wasn’t recovered until Friday, and officials didn’t immediately say how he died.
In the Lower Lake area north of San Francisco, firefighters had to wade through thick smoke and flying embers to turn loose horses, goats and other livestock in rural neighborhoods as their owners fled to safety.
The fast-moving fire had burned three homes by Friday and was threatening 450 other structures. Only 5 percent contained, it had spread across 28 square miles and was growing quickly.
It is just one of 18 large fires, most burning in the scorched northern half of the state, and California’s incessant drought is making matters worse.
“They only need a little wind to allow them to burn at an explosive rate,” said Daniel Berlant, a spokesman for the California Department of Fire and Forestry Protection.
Crews hope for cooler weather this weekend but fear dry thunderstorms will bring more lightning, which has already sparked dozens of small fires, many along the Mendocino Coast.
Brown said the declaration would help speed up help for thousands of firefighters working to corral the blazes. As part of the order, he activated the California National Guard to help with disaster recovery.
BURNING HILLS
The fast-spreading wildfire near Lower Lake north of San Francisco has torched a third home and is threatening more than 450 structures.
At least 650 residents have been evacuated from their homes as the blaze raged in hills covered in dense brush and oak trees and dotted with ranch homes. It has charred 28 square miles near Lower Lake, south of Clear Lake, a popular summer recreation spot.
It was only 5 percent contained Friday as it moved southwest toward Lower Lake and Clear Lake.
Resident Julie Flannery said she saw the fire behind her house, so she gathered some valuables and sought a safer place, leaving behind two horses and a mule.
Returning on Friday, the animals were gone and the stable doors open, and Flannery said she believes fire crews removed them.
“The rest of this is just material stuff,” she said. “The animals and the family is the most important.”
ref:usanews
