Firefighters brace for heat as people flee houses in California wildfire
Ten houses and 4,000 people were forced to evacuate as wildfire in two Northern California towns continue to get wider.
The fire broke out Saturday afternoon and grew to nearly 5 square miles as firefighters struggled to get a handle on the largely out-of-control blaze amid triple-digit temperatures and windy conditions.
On Sunday, the flames jumped a road and moved into populated areas so people rushed to get into a safer place.
The fire reached Main Street in Lower Lake, a town of about 1,200 about 90 miles north of San Francisco, and burned the post office, a winery, a Habitat for Humanity office and several businesses as thick, black smoke loomed over the four-block strip.
Authorities ordered about 1,200 residents to leave 500 homes as the blaze surged south of the town of Lower Lake. The wildfire spread to more than two square miles by early Sunday, and crews faced hot weather and little cloud cover as they tried to get a handle on the flames burning largely out of control.
“The fire activity could change in a moment’s notice right now,” said Suzie Blankenship, a spokeswoman for the California department of forestry and fire protection.
The fire was throwing embers and spreading rapidly because of parched conditions brought on by the state’s historic drought, officials said. Large, explosive fires have torn through dried-out or hard-to-reach areas across California this summer, including a stubborn blaze near the picturesque Big Sur coastline that has burned 113 square miles since late July and destroyed nearly 60 homes.
Staff at a hospital in Clearlake, a neighboring town of about 15,000, rushed to transfer 16 patients to another hospital 25 miles away while firefighters carried goats and other animals to safety as homes burned around them.
Officials confirmed 10 homes were burned, although eyewitnesses could see many more. Ironically, the Habitat for Humanity office was working to raise money to help rebuild homes destroyed by a devastating wildfire nearly a year ago.
“Emotions are still incredibly raw from the Valley Fire,” said state Sen. Mike McGuire about last year’s wildfire.
“I don’t think any of us thought we’d be back where we are tonight,” he said.
Last year, the residents of Lower Lake evacuated because of a wildfire that killed four people and destroyed more than 1,300 homes.
