The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection announced on Monday that a 20-person fire crew will be departing early Tuesday from DEEP Eastern District Headquarters to assist the U.S. Forest in California for two weeks.
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As wildfires continue to blaze across California, one fire is more expansive in its reach than others.
More than 13,000 people have been forced to evacuate their homes as a result of the Central Valley blaze.
Both Oregon and Washington State have been affected by the extreme heat and drought conditions.
Rocky Fire has managed to ravage the Lower Lake area north of San Francisco.
Some 6,300 structures – homes, barns, sheds and other buildings – remained under threat after the loss of 24 dwellings and 26 outbuildings last week. It’s led to evacuation orders for more than 13,000 people as it feeds on drought-parched vegetation that hasn’t seen fire in many years, according to Cal Fire. Several roads have been closed.
“This fire is doing things that nobody’s ever seen before”.
“Everyone we know that lives down there, they have nothing anymore. It’s just insane”, Nikki Shatter, a resident of Clear Lake, told KCAL-TV.
Even though the temperature dropped into the 80s Sunday and the humidity was up, the fire continued to advance.
As a result the fire was able to triple in size over the weekend, with the flames gathering enough strength that the fire is creating its own winds, hampering efforts by firefighters. A fire in the Sacramento area has burned four other firefighters. An increase in naturally occurring fires can also be expected, since more severe thunderstorms may bring more lightning – an estimated increase of 12 to 30 percent in the western United States by mid-century.
A plume of smoke rises above a hillside as the Rocky Fire burns near Clearlake, Calif., on Monday, August 3, 2015. “By taking this process out, we’ve opened up all that growing space that fires would have kept in check”.
“It depends on mother nature, whatever she has in store”, Smith said. His body was recovered on Friday, according to Sandusky.
“Firefighter Ruhl will be remembered for his service and bravery and we extend our deepest condolences to his family, friends and colleagues with the U.S. Forest Service”, Brown said in a separate statement.
Eight LAFD firefighters were also assigned as part of a strike team that includes firefighters from Beverly Hills, Culver City and Santa Monica, Stewart added. As of Monday morning, the fire was 12 percent contained. Two dozen homes have been destroyed. At least 70 fires have been reported in the area since Thursday.
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Daniel Berlant, Cal Fire spokesman, referred to the Rocky Fire as “a very unsafe fire”. So far, 134,000 acres have been scarred by flames.
