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| Photo Credit: AP. |
CASTAIC, Calif. (AP) — Firefighters battling a Southern California wildfire were pulled back at times to find rest and shade on Thursday, a day after seven were sent to the hospital in the midst of a grueling heat wave.
Progress on
the Route Fire in northwestern Los Angeles County gave strike team leaders the
luxury of splitting and rotating their crews for breaks fire Capt. Sheila
Kelliher-Berkoh said.
“There’s no
standown work order but they’re really pacing the work,” with some firefighters
able to take 20-minute breaks and find shade back of the fire line before
returning to the the job of stamping out hot spots, Kelliher-Berkoh said.
Firefighters
are “industrial athletes” who might be hauling up to 50 pounds of gear in
addition to their boots, clothing and helmets, and keeping them safe is a
priority, especially as they work in steep terrain in extreme heat,
Kelliher-Berkoh said.
No one
suffered heat exhaustion on Friday so “the strategy seems to be working,” she
said.
The blaze in
Castaic was 27% contained Thursday night.
Progress
also was made on a fire in eastern San Diego County near the U.S.-Mexico border
that left two people hospitalized with critical second- and third-degree burns,
the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said.
The victims
were burned after apparently crossing the border, and five other people had to
be rescued, Tony Mecham, Cal Fire unit chief in San Diego County, said at a
news conference.
“Those
people ran for their lives,” he said. “”They had a very close call.”
The blaze
also destroyed three homes and seven other buildings.
“It wiped
everything out, the only thing I have left is the clothes on my back, so far I
saved one of my dogs and two of the cats,” Ronnie Fukuda, who lost his home in
the community of Potrero, told KSWB-TV.
The Border
32 Fire in the Dulzura area grew to nearly 7 square miles (18 square
kilometers) on Wednesday and prompting evacuation orders for about 1,500 people
in hundreds of residences. However, the fire had stalled on Thursday. It was
14% contained and some people were allowed to return home, fire officials said.
The fires
erupted as California broiled under a heat wave that was expected to last
through Labor Day, sparking concerns about the threat of new blazes in
tinder-dry brush. Triple-digit forecasts also prompted worries about straining
the state’s electrical grid as people turned to their air conditioners. The
California Independent System Operator, which oversees the grid, issued a “Flex
Alert” call for voluntary conservation between 4 p.m. and 9 p.m. Friday — the
third alert in a row.
At the Route
Fire in Castaic, seven firefighters were sent to the hospital on Wednesday with
heat-related problems before being released. Temperatures remained torrid on
Friday, topping out at 112 degrees in Castaic.
However,
about 400 firefighters aided by aircraft managed to quell the explosive growth
of the blaze, which had scorched more than 8 square miles (21 square
kilometers) and destroyed a house. No homes remained threatened and evacuations
were lifted, fire officials said.
The fire
closed Interstate 5, a major north-south route but some lanes had reopened,
although the highway remained jammed, especially by big-rigs.
Wildfires
have sprung up this summer throughout the Western states. The largest and
deadliest blaze in California so far this year erupted in July in Siskyou
County. It killed four people and destroyed much of the small community of
Klamath River.
Scientists
say climate change has made the West warmer and drier over the last three
decades and will continue to make weather more extreme and wildfires more
frequent and destructive.