The 2021 wildfire season is already on pace to set a record for acreage burned, according to data from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. AP Photo/Noah Berger, File

California’s record-setting 2021 wildfire season could run into December.

Tinder-box-like conditions in parched Northern California could mean fires there run all the way toward the end of the year, Anthony Scardina, deputy regional forester for the Forest Service, said, according to The Associated Press.

Embers fly from burning trees as the Caldor Fire growing on Mormom Emigrant Trail east of Sly Park, Calif.AP Photo/Ethan Swope, File

In Southern California, fires raging in September could burn until December as well, he said.

The 2021 wildfire season is already on pace to set a record for acreage burned, according to data from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, known as Cal Fire.

Through Thursday, fires tracked by Cal Fire and the US Forest Service had burned 1,470,637 acres — far surpassing the 920,165 scorched through that date in 2020.

Julie Price points while talking to another evacuee at the Green Valley Community Church evacuation.AP Photo/Ethan Swope

Wildfires burn nearly year-round in the West, Scardina said, whereas fire seasons used to vary by region, according to AP. This creates a difficult situation for firefighters.

“But the problem is all of those seasons are starting to overlap,” Scardina told the AP. “We start to get stretched thin.”

The Way Station Bar burns as the Dixie Fire tears through the Greenville community of Plumas County, Calif. California has already surpassed the acreage burned at this point last year. AP Photo/Noah Berger, File

Source: https://nypost.com/2021/08/21/california-wildfires-could-blaze-into-december/

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GRIDLEY, Calif. — A Northern California wildfire that destroyed a foothill hamlet has become the state’s deadliest blaze of the year with 10 people confirmed dead — and the toll could climb as searchers look for 16 missing people.

The North Complex fire that exploded in wind-driven flames earlier in the week was advancing more slowly Friday after the winds eased and smoke from the blaze shaded the area and lowered the temperature, allowing firefighters to make progress, authorities said.

However, the smoke made for poor visibility and fire helicopters couldn’t fly Thursday.

In most parts of the state, red flag warnings of extreme fire danger because of hot, dry weather or gusty winds were lifted.

Only a day or two earlier, the North Complex fire tore through Sierra Nevada foothills so quickly that fire crews were nearly engulfed, locals fled for their lives to a pond, and the town of Berry Creek, population 525, was gutted.

On Thursday, Butte County sheriff’s Capt. Derek Bell said seven bodies were discovered, bringing the total to 10 in two days. At least four people with critical burns were hospitalized.

Deputies and detectives were searching for human remains as they made their way into devastated areas with a team of anthropologists from Chico State University, Bell said.

Burned-out and overturned cars, downed power lines and the ruins of buildings littered Berry Creek and nearby areas, the Sacramento Bee reported. One hatchback found on a dirt road had three dead dogs in it, while a pickup truck had the remnants of a guitar case and melted CDs in the bed.

More than 2,000 homes and other buildings had burned in the fire, which began several weeks ago as a lightning-sparked collection of blazes northeast of San Francisco. The final toll is expected to be much higher. Damage assessment teams planned to begin a methodical search of the burned areas on Friday.

Among those unaccounted for were Sandy Butler and her husband, who had called their son to say they were going to try to escape the flames by finding shelter in a pond.

“We’re still hoping and praying for good news,” said Jessica Fallon, who has two children with the Butler’s grandson and considers them her own grandparents. “Everything is replaceable, but not my grandparents’ lives. I’d rather lose everything than those two. They kind of held the family together.”

Fallon said she’d been peppering hospitals with phone calls in search of her grandparents. There was no word of them late Thursday night.

The speed and ferocity of the fire astonished observers, even those who remembered a blaze only two years earlier that killed some 85 people and devastated the town of Paradise, a few miles away from the current blaze.

Residents jammed the main road out of town on Wednesday amid falling ash and red skies. Authorities lifted an evacuation warning for Paradise on Thursday but authorities urged people to remain alert.

A crew fighting the fire was overrun by flames Wednesday when winds shifted and its members escaped with only minor injuries after deploying emergency shelters. It was the second time in two days that firefighters in California had to take the rare last-ditch effort to save their lives.

The blaze is among 29 major wildfires burning from the Oregon border to just north of Mexico. More than 4,800 square miles (12,500 square kilometers) have burned so far this year — more land than Rhode Island, Delaware and Washington, D.C., combined — and fall is typically the worst season for fires. Nineteen people have been killed and at least 4,000 structures have burned across California.

“It’s a historic season on top of a historic season that replaced a historic season. We just keep setting new precedents, and then we keep destroying them,” said Sean Norman, a battalion chief with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Smoke blew into vineyards in wine country north of San Francisco, and rose above scenic Big Sur on the Central Coast and in the foothills and mountains of Los Angeles, San Bernardino and San Diego counties in the southern part of the state.

President Donald Trump spoke with Gov. Gavin Newsom “to express his condolences for the loss of life and reiterate the administration’s full support to help those on the front lines of the fires,” according to White House spokesman Judd Deere.

Neighboring Oregon and Washington also have been beseiged.

More than 1,400 square miles (3,625 square kilometers) have burned this week in Oregon, where hot, windy conditions continued. Authorities said more than 500,000 people — more than 10% of the state’s population — have been forced to evacuate.

Wildfires have scorched nearly 937 square miles (2,426 kilometers) in Washington.
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Melley reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press writers John Antczak in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

Source: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/at-least-10-people-confirmed-dead-16-remain-missing-amid-north-california-wildfires

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Wind-driven flames roll over a hill towards homes during the Mendencino Complex Fire near Lakeport, California, U.S. August 2, 2018. [Fred Greaves/REUTERS]

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DENVER –  An erratic wildfire charging through extremely dry land in the heart of Colorado ski country destroyed three homes and forced people to flee, authorities said Thursday.

Elsewhere in Colorado, a rare high-elevation tornado touched down at the site of another wildfire Thursday but apparently caused little damage and had no effect on the fire.

They were among more than 60 large blazes burning across the United States, mostly in the West, where whipping winds and increasing heat have made it easy for flames to spread.

Fires exploded in Northern California, Utah and other areas, where a prolonged and severe drought has desiccated forests.

In Colorado, residents of multimillion-dollar properties, modest condos and mobile homes were ordered to evacuate early Thursday because of an unpredictable wildfire reported the night before near the town of Basalt. More than 500 homes were affected.

The Eagle County Sheriff’s Department said no other homes had been lost besides the three reported earlier.

Smoke from the fire temporarily halted flights into the resort town of Aspen, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) away.

Authorities believe the flames started after people at a shooting range used tracer bullets, which illuminate the path of fired bullets.

A tornado was reported Thursday south of Fairplay, a central Colorado town about 10,000 feet (3,000 meters) above sea level. It appeared to touch down at or near the edge of a wildfire that has burned about 17 square miles (43 square kilometers), National Weather Service meteorologist Russell Danielson.

Tornadoes are rare at that elevation and are seldom seen at any wildfire, Daniels said.

Another Colorado wildfire about 205 miles (330 kilometers) southwest of Denver destroyed more than 130 homes and forced more than 2,000 people in three counties to evacuate. It grew to about 160 square miles (nearly 420 square kilometers) Thursday.

Rain was expected in parts of Colorado, which could dampen fires but trigger flash flooding in areas left bare by wildfires.

Hotter, drier weather was forecast in Northern California, where thousands of firefighters were battling a wildfire that was already about three times the size of San Francisco.

By Thursday night, the fire northwest of Sacramento had burned nine buildings and 137.5 square miles (356 square kilometers). However, authorities didn’t immediately indicate whether any homes had been destroyed in the rural area, although about 110 structures remained threatened, according to state fire officials.

The blaze was 33 percent contained.

“The cool weather on Wednesday helped firefighters, but it will become hotter and drier starting Friday and into the weekend, and that will be a challenge,” said Anthony Brown, a spokesman with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Some of the 2,500 people who were under mandatory evacuations orders were allowed to return home.

Authorities say a fire that jumped across Interstate 5 south of the Oregon border in California has closed the southbound lanes in that area.

The Oregon Department of Transportation said Thursday evening the southbound lanes would remain closed at Ashland, Oregon. Motorists were advised to take an alternate route toward California.

California Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency for Siskyou County, citing “extreme peril” to people and property. There were some evacuation in the tiny town of Hornbrook.

The fire called Klamathon started Thursday afternoon.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said Thursday night that the blaze had burned nearly 8 square miles (20 square kilometers). Multiple structures are threatened, damaged or destroyed, the department said.

In northern New Mexico, a wildfire closed a ranch where novelist D.H. Lawrence once sought spiritual renewal. Officials said a fire in drought-stricken Carson National Forest has scorched nearly 4 square miles (10 square kilometers) since June 24 and is only partially contained.

Forest restrictions imposed last week closed the University of New Mexico’s D.H. Lawrence Ranch, which hosted the writer in the summers of 1924 and 1925 as well as Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, author Willa Cather and artist Georgia O’Keeffe after Lawrence’s 1930 death.

In Utah, scorching summer temperatures and winds quickly pushed flames through bone-dry vegetation near a popular fishing lake about two hours southeast of Salt Lake City. The 66-square-mile (171-square-kilometer) fire near Strawberry Reservoir has burned about 90 structures.

Darren Lewis’ family cabin is in the fire’s path and he fears the A-frame structure built 46 years ago by his uncle and father has burned, though he’s waiting for confirmation.

Lewis, 44, and his extended family planned to spend the Fourth of July at the property in a narrow canyon near a river but instead nervously watched social media for updates from the Salt Lake City suburb of Magna.

More than 1,100 people have been evacuated in the mountain area, and the family hasn’t been able to go back since Monday, he said. It is a frequent family gathering spot and has special sentimental value because his father and uncle both died last year.

“That’s our healing place,” Lewis said.

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Associated Press writers Russell Contreras in Albuquerque, Dan Elliott in Denver, Brady McCombs in Salt Lake City and Olga R. Rodriguez in San Francisco contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/07/05/wildfire-near-aspen-colorado-sends-neighborhoods-fleeing.html

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