N. Calif. wildfires force hundreds to flee homes on Home Services

Jun

N. Calif. wildfires force hundreds to flee homes

posted by admin in Home Loan Services

A second day of hot weather and dry wind stoked new wildfires across Northern California on Wednesday, as firefighters battled blazes that have damaged at least 50 homes and threaten hundreds more.

About 1,500 residents in the heavily forested hills north of Santa Cruz were told Wednesday afternoon to leave their homes as a quick-moving wildfire spread through the area.

Battalion Chief Paul Van Gerwen said the fire threatened about 1,000 homes and had already set several structures ablaze. He said the fire could spread to as many as 1,000 acres before firefighters would be able to begin slowing it.

A thick plume of smoke could be seen rising hundreds of feet above the rural hills as air tankers and helicopters raced to the scene.

Meanwhile, three firefighters trapped by flames while battling a 50-acre fire on Wednesday near Lincoln, about 25 miles north of Sacramento, were being treated at the University of California, Davis Medical Center regional burn center in Sacramento, fire officials said.

Two were being treated for moderate to severe burns to their faces and arms, while the third was treated for facial burns and released, said Bill Mendonca, battalion chief for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Firefighters battled a blaze near Palermo, about 60 miles north of the state capital, that damaged about 21 homes on Tuesday and threatened about 275 others, fire officials said.

“The whole house was burnt to the ground, with everything we own,” she said in a telephone interview. “It’s pretty rough.”

A Sacramento Metro Fire Department captain who suffered third-degree burns to his hands and second-degree burns to his arms while battling a grass fire southeast of the city on Tuesday underwent surgery at the burn center Wednesday.

“Doctors are saying he will fully recover, but it will take months,” said Capt. Jeff Lynch, a department spokesman.

More than 70 firefighters battled the 6,400-acre fire Wednesday to make sure the wind didn’t blow sparks across fire lines, he said.

Firefighters continued to battle blazes in Stockton, where 32 homes were damaged Tuesday, and near the coast in Monterey and Sonoma counties.

A record-dry spring has left grass, brush and trees ready to burst into flames that can then be spread by the high winds, firefighters said.

Across the country in eastern North Carolina, firefighters planned to burn harvested wheat fields to clear potential fuel for a wildfire burning in and around the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge.

A fire at an under-renovation citrus processing facility in the southern Texas town of Palmview destroyed at least one building but no one was injured. About 45 workers were in the Rio Queen Citrus Inc. unit when the fire broke out and all were accounted for.