Intense Storms spark dozens of new Wildfires in California
Pastor Dale Morgan
Intense Storms spark dozens of new Wildfires in California*
* Story Highlights
* NEW: Thunderstorms blamed in as many as 75 wildfires
* Fire near Watsonville may be contained by end of the day
* Watsonville fire has charred 630 acres, officials said
* Evacuation orders still in place for some homeowners
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- Thunderstorms sparked as many as 75 wildfires
in a wilderness area in far Northern California on Saturday as officials
farther south got close to containing a blaze that destroyed several
homes and forced thousands to evacuate.
Storms overnight Friday were responsible for the large number of fires
in Shasta-Trinity National Forest, near Redding. Those fires range in
size from less than an acre to more than 750 acres.
None immediately threatened homes, Forest Service spokesman Michael Odle
said. Teams moved in Saturday on the two largest fires.
South of San Francisco, a fire that burned homes and closed a stretch of
highway was 90 percent contained and could be surrounded by the end of
the day, according to officials of the California Department of Forestry
and Fire Protection. It had charred 630 acres, or less than a square mile.
"We made some good progress over the evening and hope to have the same
today," said department spokesman Paul Van Gerwen, a battalion chief.
However, evacuation orders remained in place Saturday for the roughly
2,000 people who fled their homes Friday. Some evacuees spent the night
at an emergency shelter set up at a local school.
About 650 firefighters were working in hot, dry weather to contain the
blaze, which destroyed as many as 15 buildings, including several homes,
and closed scenic Highway 1 in Santa Cruz County for hours, fire
officials said.
The cause of the fire was still under investigation, Van Gerwen said.
Video Watch firefighters work to contain Trabing fire »
It was the third major blaze to hit Santa Cruz County in the past month.
A 520-acre blaze charred destroyed 11 buildings in the Santa Cruz
Mountains, and a fire near Corralitos covered more than 4,200 acres and
destroyed about 100 buildings.
To the south along the coast, firefighters worked against a nearly
80-square-mile fire in a remote part of the Los Padres National Forest
in Monterey County. It was about half contained Saturday.
In New Mexico, hundreds of firefighters battled blazes in the northern
and southern parts of the state that have charred more than 100 square
miles, including more than 4,000 acres on a ranch owned by media mogul
Ted Turner.
In a remote southeastern part of the state, lightning-sparked fires have
scorched more than 95 square miles of mainly desert landscape.
The largest fire, 20 miles southwest of Hope, doubled in size Friday
because of gusty winds and has charred more than 40,000 acres, or about
64 square miles. Two other blazes, about a mile apart and 30 miles west
of Roswell, have blackened more than 32 square miles, and officials say
the fires could merge.
In northern New Mexico, a fire that began as two blazes burned nearly 7
square miles on Turner's Vermejo Park Ranch.