“Climate change and other factors are causing the cost of fighting fires to rise every year”, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, “but the way we fund our Forest Service hasn’t changed in generations”. The cooler temperatures and higher humidity slowed the fire’s advance along most of the fire’s perimeter. The Etsel Fire, located in the Yuki Wilderness area was contained at 32 acres. Evacuations are rampant, with thousands of residents displaced, and 43 homes destroyed.
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The Jerusalem fire, first reported at about 3:45 p.m., grew from 100 acres to 3,000 acres in just more than five hours with no containment, reminiscent of the Rocky fire’s appalling spread under similar conditions, Cal Fire said.
Gaeta traveled to Lake County from Riverside, but he’s worked fires in the north several times over the past few years.
“(We’re) very saddened today and can’t really express how much – so sorry for my lack of composure, but not something I’ve had to deal with on the job”, Gabor said.
More than 13,000 residents got mandatory or voluntary evacuation notices after the fire broke out July 29 but all were allowed to return to their homes by Saturday morning. She also notes that all donations are tax deductible. Jerri Driver, her husband and her two-week-old foster baby were able to evacuate from their Jerusalem Valley home last week. “Next time maybe we’ll have a nice box that’s ready to go that’s a little more appropriate”.
A 4,700-acre blaze in Modoc County was contained Thursday, as was the 8,000-acre Wragg Fire near Lake Berryessa, which has been burning a week and a half.
In Oregon, firefighters used four-lane Interstate 84 as a firebreak on Thursday to prevent the Lime Hill Fire in the eastern part of the state from reaching the nearby town of Huntington, U.S. Bureau of Land Management spokesman Larry Moore said.
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Wildfires have fed off droughts in Washington state, Montana, Arizona and elsewhere. Crews backed by important firefighting resources are gaining ground against a massive Northern California wildf…
