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Relentless California wildfire jumps highway barrier despite cooler weather Relentless California wildfire jumps highway barrier despite cooler weather
(35 minutes later)
Related: Cooler California temperatures give wildfire crews relief after five-day battleRelated: Cooler California temperatures give wildfire crews relief after five-day battle
An unruly wildfire in drought-stricken northern California has grown to more than 101 square miles despite thousands of weary firefighters working to stem its spread. A huge wildfire has defied containment efforts and jumped a highway, opening a new front for firefighters in California.
They tried to stand their ground on Tuesday against the blaze that jumped a highway that had served as a containment line and grew by several square miles despite cooler weather and higher humidity. The fire’s rapid growth caught firefighters off guard and shocked residents. The week-old Rocky fire leaped across highway 20 in multiple places and scorched hundreds of acres of brush on Tuesday, expanding its total range to 65,000 acres. It is 12% contained.
Vicki Estrella, who has lived in the area for 22 years, stayed at a Red Cross shelter at Middletown high school along with her husband and their dog. “We were really working hard to keep it south of highway 20 but the fire spotted ahead,” said Daniel Berlant, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. “It has grown at such an explosive rate. The speed is really unprecedented and shows just how dry the conditions are.”
“It’s amazing the way that thing spread,” Estrella said. “There was smoke 300ft in the air.” The blaze is the worst of 21 wildfires scorching parched woodland across the state. Some 9,000 firefighters backed by aircraft are battling to contain the fires but four years of drought have created tinderbox conditions.
Cooler weather had helped crews build a buffer between the wildfire and some of the thousands of homes it threatened as it tore through drought-withered brush in Lake County that hadn’t burned in years. Thunderstorms expected this week may cool temperatures and increase humidity but they are also likely to bring wind and lightning, which has caused many of the recent fires. “It’s definitely a concern,” said Berlant.
But Monday afternoon erratic wind blew hot embers north of Highway 20 ignited several fires across the highway north of the city of Clear Lake. The Rocky fire, which started near Clear Lake, about 120 miles north-west of San Francisco, has confounded computer models by growing at breakneck speed, at one point consuming 20,000 acres in just five hours.
Here's the latest perimeter map of the 65,000 acre #RockyFire. Google Interactive fire map: https://t.co/qvszLSO6iP pic.twitter.com/IiAApD1jngHere's the latest perimeter map of the 65,000 acre #RockyFire. Google Interactive fire map: https://t.co/qvszLSO6iP pic.twitter.com/IiAApD1jng
“There were too many [spot fires] for us to pick up,” battalion chief Carl Schwettmann of the California department of forestry and fire protection told the San Francisco Chronicle. “With these drought-stricken fuels, it’s just moving at an extremely high rate of speed.” Standard containment methods – dropping fire retardant from the air, ploughing ditches and earthworks to create break lines and setting controlled fires to consume vegetation and other fuel – have proved no match for the extremely dry conditions.
At least two dozen homes have been destroyed over the past few days and more than 13,000 people forced from their homes or warned to leave. Even at night and during slack winds the fire has aggressively expanded. “To see a fire burn like that without significant wind factor is historical,” said Berlant.
The fire – the largest blaze in drought-stricken California – roughly tripled in size over the weekend, generating its own winds that fanned the flames and reduced thousands of acres of manzanita shrubs and other brush to barren land in hours. It has destroyed an estimated 50 structures, threatened another 6,300, and forced the evacuation of more than 13,000 people.
“There’s a lot of old-growth-type vegetation and four years of drought to dry it all out,” said Lynne Tolmachoff, a spokeswoman for the California department of forestry and fire protection. “It was ready to go.” Cooler temperatures on Monday gave only a brief respite.
The fire was burning in the Lower Lake area, about 100 miles north of San Francisco and 10 miles from Clear Lake, the largest freshwater lake entirely within California and a popular spot for boaters and campers. Fire officials said no homes around the lake were threatened. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection issued an advisory on Tuesday urging residents to stay vigilant and obey evacuation orders and road closures. “Fire activity and direction can change at any time, be prepared and stay informed. With the elevated fire danger, we are asking everyone to use extreme caution.”
“I’m overwhelmed,” Donna McDonald, of Clear Lake, said at a high school that had been turned into a shelter. “I was very happy at one point when I saw no smoke at all. Then all of a sudden it just flared up real big again.”
Related: California wildfire more than doubles in size as two highways forced to closeRelated: California wildfire more than doubles in size as two highways forced to close
Layna Rivas, of Clearlake Oaks, evacuated her home over the weekend and wanted to get back to feed her chickens. On Sunday, California secured extra funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) to help cover the costs of local, state and tribal agencies fighting the blaze. Last week Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency for California and activated the state’s national guard to help with disaster recovery.
“You have to have that let go feeling and know everything is going to be OK,” she said. “My place is going to be safe, my animals are going to be safe.” Fire crews are also battling blazes in Oregon and Washington.
Numerous other wildfires in California, Washington state and Oregon took off as the effects of drought and summer heat turned the West Coast combustible. California blazes killed a firefighter last week and injured four others. Investigations are continuing into the death of David Ruhl, a 38-year-old fire captain from South Dakota who died last Thursday while scouting the Frog fire in Modoc County, on the California-Oregon border.
Crews in the Lower Lake area conducted controlled burns, setting fire to shrubs to rob the blaze of fuel and protect some of 5,500 homes threatened. The fire was burning in a rural area of grasslands and steep hills. The married father of two was driving alone and became trapped when erratic winds fanned flames in an unexpected way. Ruhl left his home state to help protect one of California’s majestic forests, Brown said in a statement. “We extend our deepest condolences to his family.”
The fire destroyed at least 24 homes and 26 outbuildings.
More fire crews were brought in, bringing the number of firefighters to nearly 3,000. Two more national guard air tankers were being brought in from Colorado to drop retardant, Tolmachoff said.
Crews battled 20 other wildfires in California – some sparked by lightning – though none as big as the Lower Lake blaze. Mandatory evacuations were also in place farther north in a remote rural area of the Shasta-Trinity national forest.
The Lower Lake fire is well short of historic proportions. One of the largest wildfires in California history was a 2013 blaze that took out 400 square miles of Sierra Nevada wilderness.