Pacific time Wednesday, the 30,000-acre fire was burning out of control with zero percent containment. Jerry Brown to issue a state of emergency in the county. Over 82,000 people have been evacuated and 35,000 homes are in danger.
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Six hours after it was first sparked, more than 700 firefighters were assigned to fight the Blue Cut fire which remained 0% contained and was still growing rapidly. Driven by dry brush and gusty conditions, the blaze led Gov.
“In my 40 years of fighting fire I have never seen a fire behavior so extreme as it was yesterday”, Mike Wakoski, a commander with the incident team, told reporters.
On Tuesday, CBS SF learned that just two weeks ago, Pashlik joined a radio scanner group that posts details of Lake County’s fire calls and includes information on the aftermath.
What sets the Blue Cut fire apart is not its explosive growth – it’s the sheer number of people under mandatory evacuation orders. Some fire whirls dissipate nearly immediately, but others travel along the ground sustaining themselves as the wind pushes the flames closer together making the heat more intense and destructive, Capt Howard Deets told the Los Angeles Times.
Veterinarian Jeffery Smith of Middletown Animal Hospital said the horse, named Lightning Gekas, had difficulty breathing and was taken to the University of California, Davis’ veterinary school for further treatment.
Among the equipment already deployed were 152 fire engines, eight air tankers plus two Very Large Air Tankers (VLATs), and eight helicopters, including night flying helicopters.
“There is imminent threat to public safety, rail traffic and structures in the Cajon Pass, Lytle Creek, Wrightwood and surrounding areas”, according to the Inciweb page.
The blaze started about 10:30 a.m. Tuesday and by evening had spread to 9,000 acres.
At a gas station in the outpost of Pinon Hills, 10 miles northwest of the fire, Jeannine Yglesia was buying ice with her 24-year-old son.
The Blue Cut Fire burns in San Bernardino County on Wednesday as fire officials work to extinguish the flames.
Anderson and another firefighter were treated for minor injuries.
The fire quickly established itself, making a moderate run up a slope, then wind on it and carried it across the highway.
PHELAN, United States – An inferno scorching swathes of southern California threatened the homes of more than 82,000 people Wednesday, sending flaming “firenadoes” tearing across the brush and prompting a state of emergency.
One resident told CNN affiliate, KABC that she was there when the flames were all around.
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“We had to keep the windows up because we couldn’t breathe. The smoke was so thick, and as soon as the smoke cleared, we could see that everything was gone”, said Crystal Armstrong, who lost her home. “The hard courageous work of men and women firefighters yesterday put themselves in harm’s way to evacuate and protect structures”. Among them was the Summit Inn, a historic Route 66 diner near Interstate 15.
