California Fights 400 Fires, Bakes in Heat Wave
US: June 24, 2008
LOS ANGELES - Firefighters worked to contain some 400 wildfires burning
across Northern California on Sunday as the state baked under a fourth day
of an early summer heat wave that has strained the power grid and left
residents wilted.
One structure was destroyed and 150 homes were evacuated near Fairfield, 40
miles (64 km) southwest of Sacramento, in the path of the worst of the
fires, which blackened more than 3,500 acres (1,416 hectares) in
wine-producing Napa County.
"The weather is, of course, very hot and dry here, and this fire quickly
rolled up into some extremely steep terrain and became inaccessible. We're
having trouble establishing control lines," said Battalion Chief David Shew
of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
He said the blaze was about 10 percent contained as of Sunday morning and
that crews were hoping for a break as triple-digit temperatures began to
ease and cooler off-shore breezes returned.
Most of the hundreds of fires scattered across Northern California were
started by dry lightning strikes during thunder storms that moved across the
state on Friday.
"Those evil clouds are wreaking havoc across the state," Mike Jarvis, deputy
director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said
of the dry lightning. "There's no moisture in them and when they hit it's
not like they put themselves out."
In a 24-hour period beginning on Friday, some some 5,000 to 6,000 dry
lightning strikes were recorded across the region, leaving crews scrambling
to keep up with spot fires.
"We do have significant numbers of fires that are completely unstaffed as of
yet," Shew said. "We don't have sufficient resources to send to every one of
them, so they'll just have to pick them up as we can."
California has cooked for four days under a severe heat wave that has drive
temperatures above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8 degrees Celsius) across much
of the state.
Beaches were swamped with Californians seeking relief, and in Southern
California power was lost to some communities as the power grid was strained
by residents turning up air conditioners and fans to beat the heat. (Editing
by Cynthia Osterman)
Story by Dan Whitcomb
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
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