California Wildfire Forces Hundreds To Evacuate
A fast-moving California wildfire threatened hundreds of people in the northern region of the state in the past several hours, and firefighters continue to try to put out the blaze.
According to Reuters, over 5,000 residences are under threat as the quickly growing blaze continues to scorch the area in and around the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California. Fifteen homes in the counties of Amador and Calaveras have already been burnt. Lynn Tolmachoff, California’s Forestry and Fire Protection Department spokeswoman, said the wildfire already covers over 60,000 acres in those two counties after having grown through Friday night.
The Associated Press said 2,700 people in the town of San Andreas were informed that “they may have to evacuate” if the California wildfire is not put out before it reaches them.
A state of emergency has been declared in the state, and hundreds of firefighters have been called to the scene.
The latest California wildfire started on Wednesday and — with the help of temperatures reaching well above 100 degrees Fahrenheit and areas of land that haven’t received rainfall in years — grew rapidly to cover dozens of square miles within 48 hours.
A YouTube video was recently posted of State Fire and Rescue Chief Kim Zagaris explaining the ongoing struggle to put out the California wildfire. He described the fire conditions they are dealing with as “extreme.”
“The fourth year of a drought, extreme drought, the fields are dry, it’s a bad fire season […] We have a fire [that] moved, I think, about seven miles in about nine hours.”
Zagaris added that people in and around the areas affected by the California wildfire should “be prepared to leave in a moment’s notice.”
The LA Times said four firefighters in Lake County suffered burns while trying to put out yet another California wildfire that has already charred up over 400 acres and forced residents of Cobb and Harbin Hot Springs to evacuate. Over a thousand people have been ordered to evacuate both towns.
The Associated Press said the four injured firefighters “were members of a helicopter crew based in Lake County.”
Twitter user Dark Subjects posted several photos of the smoke-covered skies above her home as she prepared to pack her belongings to evacuate her home near the California wildfire.
The current California wildfire season is said to be one of the worst in the state’s recent history.
[Photo by David McNew/Getty Images]
