Hundreds of firefighters battling Raging US wildfires
Pastor Dale Morgan
Saturday May 12, 9:46 AM
*Hundreds of firefighters battling Raging US wildfires*
Firefighters on Friday battled to contain wildfires that scorched
thousands of acres of tinder-dry parkland and forced large scale
evacuations across the United States.
Several hundred firefighters were deployed to tackle blazes in Florida
and California, where record dry weather and high temperatures have
forced authorities to maintain a state of near-perpetual alert.
Around 500 firefighters were trying to extinguish a fire on Santa
Catalina Island, a nature reserve and popular destination for
day-trippers off the coast of southern California near Los Angeles.
The fire tore through more than 4,200 acres (1,700 hectares) after
erupting suddenly on Thursday. Initial efforts to contain the blaze were
hampered by rugged terrain which rendered many of the hotspots inaccessible.
However a drop in winds Friday and increased humidity allowed
firefighters to make significant inroads into the blaze.
Speaking shortly after 5pm (0000 GMT), a Los Angeles County Fire
Department spokesman said the fire was now 35 percent contained, up from
10 percent earlier on Friday.
"We've made some good progress and we are now allowing all evacuated
residents to return home," the spokesman said.
Around 1,000 people were evacuated after the fire reached the borders of
the island's main town Avalon on Thursday.
One home, a commercial property and several outbuildings were destroyed
in the fire, which was being bombarded by 10 water-dropping helicopters
and five fixed-wing aircraft. There were no reports of injuries.
Firefighting equipment had been brought in overnight by US Navy
hovercrafts from the US Marines Camp Pendleton base in San Diego County.
The fire came after a blaze devastated more than 800 acres (300
hectares) of Los Angeles' historic Griffith Park earlier this week.
City fire officials said they expected the fire in the park to be
declared 100 percent contained later Friday.
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger -- who shot scenes from the
"Terminator" movies in the park -- expressed shock after inspecting the
damaged areas. "To see those great, same places where we were, where we
filmed, destroyed was very hard to take," Schwarzenegger said.
The Los Angeles Times reported that an emergency plan to repair the park
was expected to cost around 50 million dollars.
Los Angeles is in the grip of the driest start to the year since records
began in 1877, according to recent figures from the National Weather
Service.
A spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire
Protection said the drought meant the fire season had begun earlier than
usual.
"This year has been an extremely dry year and because of that the
moisture levels in the vegetation have decreased," Daniel Berlant told AFP.
"We're seeing dry vegetation that we normally don't see until June or July."
However, the blazes were not evidence of an increasing threat of fires,
Berlant said. "If you look through history, weather patterns go in and
out -- you have dry periods and wet periods," he said. "Right now we're
in one of those dry periods."
Meanwhile firefighters battled with brush fires across drought-plagued
Florida. Officials say more than 220 fires raged across the state,
destroying six homes and blanketing much of the southeastern state with
a smoky haze.
The smoke also forced the closure of several highways.
Weather forecasters had hoped a subtropical storm that formed offshore
earlier in the week would bring some relief, but the weather system
fizzled out without bringing the much needed rain.