As a Friday afternoon, mass evacuations continue in Kern County.
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About 350 firefighters have battled the flames overnight, and their number is being doubled.
Firefighters mop up after helicopters dropped water on a fire in the San Gabriel mountains near Azusa, Calif. on Tuesday.
Authorities say three firefighters have been injured fighting the Erskine Fire, which tore through several rural communities northeast of Bakersfield, reducing some neighborhoods to ashes.
These rules apply to residents who live within wildland urban interface areas and require homeowners to clear space around the home to make it harder for the fire to jump to structures.
“Our firefighters from all the agencies here in Kern County and coming throughout the state of California, have been engaged in a firefight of epic proportions, trying to save every structure possible”, Marshall said.
Another 1,500 structures were threatened.
Fire officials urged all residents ordered to evacuate to comply after reports that some homeowners were remaining behind. (AP) – Authorities say a wildfire roaring through mountain communities in central California has killed two people.
No other details are immediately available.
Smoke from California’s wildfires has prompted an air quality alert across the border in the Las Vegas area.
The fire began about 4 p.m. Thursday in the Lake Isabella area, KTLA reported on Friday.
In eastern Arizona, firefighters managed to corral almost half of a fire that roared through about 67 square miles of pine, juniper and brush on an Apache Indian reservation.
A Kern County wildfire has destroyed at least 80 buildings and forced hundreds of people to flee their homes.
The fire left behind a twisted, tangled mess in the hard-hit South Lake area, where many mobile homes were entirely destroyed.
There are 600 firefighters battling the blaze with several hundred more expected to arrive on scene.
A wildfire that has burned 28 square miles in central New Mexico is almost contained.
Eighty homes were destroyed, officials said in a news conference Friday morning. So far, only a few small structures have burned. A team experienced in dealing with a complex fire got in place Thursday. For one, a beetle infestation has
Residents in Bakersfield and other nearby communities have been struggling to reach loved ones in the Lake Isabella community.
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About 40 people had to evacuate a senior center. Cachet Kirby, 22, of Mount Mesa, said she and neighbors grabbed clothes, blankets and their dogs, fleeing through thick smoke as flames came down the mountains. “It was to the point you couldn’t see, you couldn’t breathe”, she said. On Friday morning, evacuee Cher Buys, 63, said she had arrived there to find people “crying their guts out”.
