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Firefighters work to suppress California wildfire near Big Sur coast

Firefighters taking care of july 2016 wildfires

By Mike Fiala

CARMEL-BY-THE-SEA, Calif. (Reuters) – Firefighters on Friday were working to suppress a deadly wildfire near California’s famed Big Sur coast that has burned more than 40 homes, forced hundreds of residents to flee and closed popular parks at the height of the summer travel season.

The so-called Soberanes Fire erupted last Friday just south of the upscale oceanside town of Carmel-by-the-Sea and has raged through nearly 30,000 acres (12,000 hectares) of drought-parched chaparral, tall grass and timber into the Los Padres National Forest.

Efforts by 4,200 firefighters to hack buffer lines through dense vegetation around the perimeter of the blaze have been complicated by worsening weather conditions – super-low humidity and gradually rising temperatures – officials said.

Containment stood at 15 percent on Friday morning, even as the overall size of the fire zone continued to expand, leaving another 2,000 structures threatened and about 350 people displaced.

Flames have already destroyed 41 homes and 10 outbuildings, with at least two other dwellings damaged by fire, officials said. Firefighters however managed to save a number of large homes in the hills above the exclusive Carmel Highlands community.

The fire threat has also prompted authorities to close a string of heavily visited California campgrounds and recreation areas along the northern end of the Big Sur coastline, including Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park and Point Lobos Natural Reserve.

Highway 1, the scenic route that winds along the famed seaside cliffs overlooking the Pacific, remained open, though motorists were advised to allow for traffic delays due to a heavy volume of fire-fighting equipment entering and existing the roadway.

The blaze took a deadly turn on Tuesday when a bulldozer operator hired by private property owners to help battle the flames was killed when his tractor rolled over, marking the second California wildfire fatality in a week.

He was identified on Thursday as 35-year-old Robert Oliver Reagan III, from the town of Friant, California.

On Thursday, California Office of Emergency Services received a federal grant to help pay for firefighting efforts.

About 300 miles (485 km) away, a 67-year-old man was found dead in a burned-out car last Saturday after refusing to heed evacuation orders in a separate fire that destroyed 18 homes in a mountainous area north of Los Angeles.

That blaze, dubbed the Sand Fire, was listed as 65-percent contained on Thursday after charring more than 38,000 acres (15,400 hectares).

Lingering smoke and soot spewed by the Erskine Fire have prompted air-quality regulators to warn residents in parts of the Los Angeles region to avoid outdoor activities for the time being.

(Additional reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Alison Williams)

Thousands of firefighters battle massive wildfire near L.A.

Fire burns brush on a hillside during the so-called Sand Fire in the Angeles National Forest near Los Angeles,

By Laila Kearney

(Reuters) – More than 1,600 firefighters battled on Monday to contain a fast-spreading wildfire that has forced hundreds of evacuations in the drought-parched canyons north of Los Angeles, destroying 18 homes, killing at least one person and closing a highway.

Authorities said the Sand Fire had grown to more than 33,000 acres (13,300 hectares) by early Monday, or more than 50 square miles (130 square km), fueled by high winds and parched conditions after years of drought.

It was threatening a string of small communities near Santa Clarita, just outside the Angeles National Forest, the Los Angeles county sheriff’s department said.

“This is the fifth year of an ongoing drought, so we have very extreme fire behavior,” the fire department chief, Daryl Osby told a Sunday news conference. “These are not normal times.”

A 10,262-acre (4,155-hectare) fire was also burning in a coastal area of Monterey county, 300 miles (480 km) northwest of Santa Clarita, prompting authorities to widen evacuation orders to several communities on Sunday, a Cal Fire spokeswoman said.

One person suffered non-life-threatening injuries and one structure was destroyed, the spokeswoman, Amber Anderson, said.

The fire near Santa Clarita, first reported on Friday afternoon, has forced at least 1,500 residents to evacuate their homes and destroyed at least 18 homes, the Los Angeles county fire department said in a statement.

All the affected communities, about 40 miles (65 km) northwest of Los Angeles, are in or around the San Gabriel Mountains, which is dotted with multimillion-dollar homes.

About 100 commercial buildings in the path of the fire have been ordered to evacuate, fire officials said.

An “unexpected wind event” forced officials to cancel plans for residents to return to some areas, fire officials said on social media network Twitter on Sunday.

“All evacuations will remain in place,” they added.

The 14 Freeway was closed to traffic because of the fire threat, the California Highway Patrol said on Twitter.

The remains of an unidentified person were found late on Saturday in a charred vehicle in the path of the blaze. The cause of death had yet to be decided, fire officials said.

Extreme heat, strong winds and parched rugged terrain will continue to hamper firefighters, the officials said, adding that they were still trying to pinpoint the cause of the wildfire, which had been only 10 percent contained by early on Monday.

(Reporting by Laila Kearney and Chris Michaud in New York and Eric M. Johnson in Seattle; Editing by Tom Brown and Clarence Fernandez)

China floods kill 128 , 1.3 million evacuated, 40,000 buildings collapse

An aerial view shows that houses are flooded in villages in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, China, July 4, 2016.

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Severe flooding across central and southern China over the past week has killed almost 130 people, damaged more than 1.9 million hectares of crops and led to direct economic losses of more than 38 billion yuan ($5.70 billion), state media said on Tuesday.

Premier Li Keqiang traveled on Tuesday to Anhui, one of the hardest-hit provinces, where he met residents and encouraged officials to do everything they could to protect lives and livelihoods. Li was also to visit Hunan province.

Heavy rainfall had killed 128 people across 11 provinces and regions and 42 people are missing, state news agency Xinhua reported.

More than 1.3 million people have been forced out of their homes, it said.

Weather forecasts predicted more downpours during what is traditionally China’s flood season.

Xinhua said more than 1.9 million hectares (4.7 million acres) of cropland had been damaged and another 295,000 hectares had been destroyed, resulting in direct economic losses of 38.2 billion yuan.

More than 40,000 buildings have also collapsed, it added.

It was not clear how that would affect the summer grain harvest, which was expected to reach 140 million tonnes this year.

The stormy weather also took a toll on farm animals.

In Anhui, the flooding killed some 7,100 hogs, 215 bulls and 5.14 million fowl, the China News Service reported.

In the southern province of Hunan, torrential rain and flooding had forced more than 100 trains to stop or take detours since midnight on Sunday, Xinhua reported.

In one city, about 3 tonnes of gasoline and diesel leaked from a petrol station on Monday, contaminating floodwater that flowed into a river, it said.

Water in 43 rivers in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River had exceeded warning levels and patrols were monitoring dykes, Xinhua quoted Chen Guiya, an official with the Yangtze River Water Resources Commission, as saying.

(Reporting by John Ruwitch; Addititional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Beijing; Editing by Paul Tait, Robert Birsel)

California wildfire prompts new round of evacuations

A fire fighting aircraft drops fire retardant over wildfire in Kern County in central California

(Reuters) – A new wildfire burning through bone-dry grass, shrub and timber has forced the evacuation of dozens of homes in a mountain community in central California and more houses could be in the inferno’s path, fire officials said on Saturday.

The so-called Deer fire sparked on Friday afternoon and has grown to char about 1,800 acres of Bear Mountain, Kern County Fire Department spokesman Phil Neufeld said.

About 100 houses in Bear Valley Springs are under immediate threat from the flames and had to be evacuated, Neufeld said, and the wildfire is working its way through the difficult and steep terrain in the direction of many more homes.

“There is a ridge that the fire is working toward and we are working with great effort to keep it from that ridge. If it crests the ridge, it could change the whole dynamic,” Neufeld said.

He said the state’s running drought and a bark beetle infestation has desiccated trees in the area, which could provide ample fuel for the fire already aided by high temperatures and winds.

“We have a lot of talent working for us, but we’re at the mercy of the elements,” Neufeld said.

Two fire personnel have suffered minor injuries battling the blaze, Neufeld said, though no homes have been destroyed.

The fire is burning in the shadow of a much more massive blaze some 30 miles to the north. That wildfire, dubbed the Erskine Fire, has blackened some 48,000 acres, destroyed at least 150 homes, and left at least two people dead in communities near Lake Isabella.

Firefighters have been able to carve containment lines around 85 percent of the flame’s perimeter as of Saturday morning.

The wildfire season in drought-stricken California officially began in May but a string of major blazes over the past two weeks marked the first widespread outbreak of intense fires this year. The Erskine and Deer Fires were among 12 major wildfires burning across the state on Saturday.

All told, some 4,800 firefighters are battling infernos across the state. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection on Saturday urged residents to exercise “extreme caution” while using fireworks during the July 4th holiday weekend, as the pyrotechnics can spark additional fires.

(Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by David Gregorio)

Two bodies found in area burned by California wildfire

An American flag flies above wreckage at a residence leveled by the Erskine Fire in South Lake

y Dan Whitcomb

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Two bodies were found on Wednesday in a rural area of San Diego County charred by a major wildfire, sheriff’s officials said, as firefighters increasingly gained control over a larger blaze that also killed two people in central California.

The remains were discovered on private property in the Potrero area, which had been subject to a mandatory evacuation order as flames from the so-called Border Fire approached, San Diego County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Jan Caldwell said.

Caldwell said coroner’s investigators were trying to determine the identities of the deceased.

Two people who had been living in an outbuilding on the property and acting as caretakers were reported missing earlier this week.

The Border Fire, which broke out on June 19, has blackened more than 7,600 acres in southern San Diego County near the Mexican border. It was 97 percent contained by late Wednesday.

In central California, crews had cut containment lines around 70 percent of the so-called Erskine fire, which was burning in the drought-parched foothills near Lake Isabella in Kern County, about 110 miles (180 km) north of Los Angeles, fire managers said.

A major highway through the area had been reopened and more evacuees had been allowed to return home, authorities said.

On Wednesday, some 1,300 firefighters were battling the blaze that has burned about 47,000 acres, killed two people and destroyed more than 250 structures since it erupted a week ago, becoming the largest and most destructive in an already intense California fire season.

Crews will work to strengthen containment lines and extinguish spot fires started by potentially strong winds through the day, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said on its Inciweb website.

The two victims of the Erskine fire, found on Friday just beyond the ruins of their home, were identified by the Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin as a priest and his wife, Byron and Gladys McKaig.

Authorities have said more victims could be found once crews were able to inspect fire-ravaged areas more closely.

The California wildfire season officially began in May but the nine major fires that have started in the state over the past week marked the first widespread outbreak of intense fires this year.

(Reporting by Brendan O’Brien, Laila Kearney and Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Frances Kerry, David Gregorio and Paul Tait)

Firefighters gain ground over devastating California blaze

A firetruck drives through a neighborhood decimated by the Erskine Fire in South Lake, California,

By Steve Gorman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Firefighters in the foothills of central California have made significant gains against a blaze that has killed at least two people and destroyed scores of homes in a devastating start to the state’s wildfire season, authorities said on Monday.

Crews had carved containment lines around 40 percent of the fire’s perimeter by Sunday night, up from 10 percent earlier in the day, and evacuation orders were lifted on Monday for two communities previously threatened.

Officials however reported a higher toll of property losses on Monday, with about 250 structures reduced to rubble, 50 more than estimated the previous day, and 75 buildings damaged.

The so-called Erskine Fire had blackened more than 45,000 acres of drought-parched brush and grass by Monday morning on the fringes of Lake Isabella in Kern County, California, about 110 miles (180 km) north of Los Angeles.

The blaze erupted Thursday afternoon and spread quickly through several communities south of the lake, driven by high winds, as it roared largely unchecked for two days and forced hundreds of residents from their homes.

Some 2,500 homes were threatened by flames at the fire’s peak.

On Friday, at least two people were confirmed to have been killed in the blaze. Kern County fire authorities warned that the death toll could rise as investigators combed through the rubble of homes that went up in flames.

Anglican priest Byron McKaig and his wife, Gladys, were killed in the fire, Bishop Eric Menees of the Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin said in a statement.

The cause of the fire was under investigation.

More than 2,000 personnel have been assigned to the blaze, the biggest and most destructive of nine large wildfires burning up and down the state, from the Klamath National Forest near Oregon to desert scrubland close to the Mexico border. Most of those were at least 60 percent contained by Monday.

A blistering heat wave that has baked much of California in abnormally high temperatures ranging from the upper 90s to the triple digits has been a major factor contributing to the conflagrations.

While California’s wildfire season officially began in May, the rash of blazes since last week signaled the state’s first widespread outbreak of intense, deadly fire activity this year.

Daniel Berlant, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said the state had already experienced some 2,400 wildfires, small and large, since January. They burned a total of 99,000 acres (400 square km).

Winter and spring rainfalls helped ease drought conditions but also helped spur growth of grasses and brush that have since dried out, providing more potential fuel for wildfires, he said.

(Reporting by Steve Gorman; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Paul Tait)

Firefighters injured, homes destroyed in new California wildfire

(Reuters) – Three firefighters were injured in a central California wildfire that has scorched 5,000 acres (2,023 hectares) of parched and rugged terrain in less than a day, destroying 80 homes and forcing the evacuation of hundreds more, fire officials said on Friday.

The so-called Erskine Fire broke out on Thursday at about 4 p.m. PDT (2300 GMT) in the foothills of Kern County, about 42 miles (68 km) northeast of Bakersfield, drawing in hundreds of firefighters to battle the entirely unconfined blaze.

Three of the first responders were hospitalized for smoke inhalation while fighting the fire, officials said.

“Our firefighters have been engaged in a firefight of epic proportions, trying to save every structure possible,” Kern County Fire Department Brian Marshall said at a news conference.

The number of firefighters battling the blaze is expected to grow to as many as 700 throughout the day.

Fire crews will bulldoze containment lines, while air tankers drop water and fire retardant in an effort to stop the flames from consuming more homes, Marshall said.

About 1,500 residences have been evacuated and the number of threatened homes is likely to grow, he said.

“In a situation like this, there’s not enough firefighters and fire trucks to put in front of every structure,” Marshall said.

The extreme heat and dry land are expected to make the fire worse through Friday, Marshall said, adding that he was hoping for mild and cooperative winds to aid in the firefight.

State officials said they secured a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help manage the inferno.

That fire was one of several large blazes burning through parched California.

To the south, firefighters still were struggling to manage a pair of blazes burning in the foothills of Los Angeles County, dubbed the San Gabriel Complex.

As of Thursday night, it had burned more than 5,200 acres of chaparral and short grass, and containment lines had only been drawn around 15 percent of the fire’s perimeter, fire information website InciWeb said.

In San Diego County, authorities lifted evacuation orders for the Mexican border community of Portrero on Thursday, saying crews had cut containment lines around more than a third of a wildfire that has blackened some 7,350 acres.

Evacuation orders remained in force for residents of two other mountain communities. Flames already have destroyed five homes and roughly a dozen outbuildings since Sunday.

(Reporting by Laila Kearney in New York and Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Toby Chopra and Bill Trott)

At least six dead as rains batter quake-hit southwestern Japan

TOKYO (Reuters) – At least six people died and a university student was missing on Wednesday as record-breaking rains battered parts of southwestern Japan still reeling from earthquakes two months ago, setting off flooding and landslides.

Hundreds of thousands people were advised to evacuate a wide swathe of Kyushu, Japan’s southernmost main island, where 49 people died in earthquakes in April that weakened the ground and left it prone to landslides, NHK national news channel reported.

“I was in such a hurry to leave I don’t have anything more than what I’m wearing,” one elderly woman told NHK at an evacuation center.

Among those killed were a couple in their 80s whose house in Kumamoto was engulfed by mud after some places were hit by more than 100 mm (4 inches) of rain in an hour.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was in Kumamoto on Wednesday to kick off campaigning for an election next month for parliament’s upper house.

Authorities warned of further landslides in areas where the ground was weakened by a 7.3 magnitude earthquake in April and several thousand people are still living in evacuation centers.

The area has been shaken by a steady series of aftershocks, including one on Wednesday morning.

(Reporting by Elaine Lies; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

Firefighters hold ‘sleeping giant’ wildfire in check in California

Firefighters protecting property from a wildfire

By Alex Dobuzinskis

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A stubborn wildfire stoked by triple-digit temperatures raged for a sixth day outside Santa Barbara in coastal Southern California on Monday as crews worked to keep the blaze some have called a “sleeping giant” in check, officials said.

So far, the so-called Sherpa Fire burning in chaparral and tall grass about 20 miles (32 km) northwest of Santa Barbara has led to the evacuation of hundreds of residents from ranches and campgrounds in the hilly area.

Authorities said they expected to begin allowing homeowners and farm laborers back into those areas on Wednesday, though county health and environment officials issued an air quality warning for smoke and falling ash from the fire.

The tally of acreage burned held at nearly 8,000 acres (3,237 hectares) since late Sunday, said Jim Schwarber, a spokesman for the multi-agency team combating the blaze.

The fire, which broke out last Wednesday in the Los Padres National Forest and was 54 percent contained by Monday, has been called a sleeping giant due to the triple-digit temperatures and dense, bone-dry brush in the area that has not burned in decades, he said.

“We’re working hard to keep that giant contained so it doesn’t wake up,” Schwarber said.

So far, the blaze has destroyed only one building – a water-treatment center at a campground, he said.

But it has threatened more than 200 structures and forced officials to close the 101 Freeway near the Pacific Coast periodically as flames crept to within less than a mile of the shore.

More than 1,900 firefighters were assigned to the blaze.

“Red flag warnings” were also posted for the mountains around Los Angeles on Monday as two fires erupted in the foothills of the Angeles National Forest north of the city.

One blaze, dubbed the Reservoir Fire, had consumed some 1,500 acres by late afternoon and prompted the evacuation of about 70 homes. The second blaze a few miles away devoured about 1,000 acres, U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Lulu Castillo said.

About 160 miles farther south, firefighters battled flames roaring through dry brush and chaparral near the Mexican border for a second day, keeping the desert community of Potrero under evacuation.

That fire, about 50 miles southeast of San Diego, had charred more than 1,900 acres and was just 5 percent contained on Monday, California fire officials reported.

Two states away, the 6-day-old Dog Head Fire in central New Mexico has charred more than 17,000 acres and was 9 percent contained after destroying 24 homes.

(Additional reporting by Steve Gorman; Editing by Dan Grebler and Paul Tait)

Wildfires in California, New Mexico trigger evacuations

Handout photo of a firefighter battling the Sherpa Fire in Santa Barbara, California

By Brendan O’Brien

(Reuters) – Firefighters worked into early Friday morning to try to contain a growing wildfire in coastal Southern California and a larger blaze in rural New Mexico as hot weather fed flames that triggered hundreds of evacuations.

The Sherpa Fire in California grew to about 1,400 acres (560 hectares) overnight after forcing authorities to evacuate 400 homes and businesses and to close part of the 101 Freeway, according to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office and fire information center InciWeb.

About 1,200 firefighters were trying to keep the fire from exploding out of control as airplane tankers and helicopters dropped water, according to officials and online videos.

The blaze, which ignited on Wednesday in a wilderness area northwest of Santa Barbara, has consumed chaparral and tall grass in the Los Padres National Forest, according to InciWeb.

Because of the fire, officials said they had closed two state beaches and some ranch land, forcing out campers and horses.

Southeast of Albuquerque, New Mexico, the Dog Head Fire, which broke out on Tuesday about 6 miles (10 km) northwest of the town of Tajique, has also forced evacuations and grown to about 16,000 acres (6,500 hectares) overnight.

Governor Susana Martinez declared a state of emergency and ordered the state’s National Guard to be prepared to assist if needed, according to a statement from her office.

The fire destroyed 24 homes and 21 other structures, InciWeb said.

The blaze has burned through timber in central New Mexico, pushing heavy smoke toward cities more than 100 miles (160 km) away as flames spread through a largely unpopulated area, state fire information officer Peter D’Aquanni said in a phone interview on Thursday.

D’Aquanni said winds could shift the flames to the east as more than 600 firefighters tackle the blaze.

Torrance County Sheriff Heath White said on Thursday that his office was evacuating about 200 people.

The National Weather Service on Friday predicted dry, windy and hot weather for the region through next week, which could lead to more wildfires.

The weather service issued excessive heat warnings for areas in the U.S. Southwest, including California, Nevada and Arizona and New Mexico. Its forecast office in Phoenix predicted temperatures as high as 119 degrees Fahrenheit (48.3 Celsius) in the coming days, which would exceed record highs.

(Reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

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