California braced for another round of dangerous fire weather on Tuesday as crews battled two rapid fires in the south that seriously injured two firefighters and left more than 100,000 under order evacuation
Forecasts called for high winds from Santa Ana of up to 50-80 mph (80-129 km / h) at times over much of Southern California, with some of the strongest gusts howling across the county Orange, where two flames crossed bushy hills near major city centers The winds were back on Tuesday morning, but not at previous extremes
A fire that broke out around dawn on Monday resulted in evacuation orders for thousands of homes in the Irvine area, while a few miles away another fire broke out. similarly in the Yorba Linda area More than 100,000 people were urged to flee the rapid flames A house was reported damaged
Two firefighters, one 26 and the other 31, were seriously injured as they battled the largest blaze near Irvine, according to county fire departments, who did not provide details of how the injuries occurred They each suffered second and third degree burns to large parts of their bodies and were intubated in a hospital, officials said.
In northern California, the fiercest winds of the fire season fueled nearly a dozen small flames on Sunday night before easing on Monday All fires were quickly contained
Calming winds allowed Pacific Gas utility & Electric to begin restoring power after largest of five safety shutdowns this year At its peak, PG&E stranded around 345,000 customers, or roughly 1 million people, in 34 counties
An alarm signal of extreme fire danger remained in effect until Tuesday morning in the Santa Cruz Mountains and in some coastal and valley areas, with warnings extending through Tuesday evening for some higher elevations in the San Francisco Bay Area
The red flag warnings for the lower elevations of the Bay Area as well as the Santa Cruz Mountains have been allowed to expire But the red flag warning for the North Bay and East Bay Hills continues until at 5 pm Tuesday We also adjusted our expected winds Stay safe! imageTwittercom / ID7Dd7PGk3
Southern California Edison has reported to the State Utilities Board that it is investigating whether its equipment could have started the fire in Irvine.The utility said a wire that attached a telecommunications line to a support cable could have struck a 12,000 volt SCE conductive line above
SCE was one of the utilities that shut off power to customers to prevent equipment from being knocked over or fouled with debris in the winds and causing forest fires
The SCE cut power to around 38,000 homes and businesses, although it restored some electricity on Monday evening
The winds were so strong that firefighters had to bring their aircraft to a standstill for much of the day in Irvine, although they got up late Monday afternoon and continued their work into the night
Pat McGrath, 78, of Irvine, visited a shelter after a stranger knocked on her door on Monday while she was making breakfast The stranger told her about the orders to evacuation “I just panicked I started to cry,” McGrath, who has no family on the West Coast, told the Los Angeles Times “I’m cold, I’m hungry, I’m stressed and I don’t know what to do «
Scientists say climate change has made California much drier, meaning trees and other plants are more flammable October and November are traditionally the worst months for fires, but already this year 8,600 fires of forest in the state burned a record 16,600 km2 and destroyed around 9,200 homes, businesses and other buildings More than 30 people were killed in the fires
Many of this year’s devastating fires were sparked by thousands of dry lightning strikes, but some remain under investigation for potential electrical causes While the biggest fires in California have been wholly or significantly contained, more 5,000 firefighters remain in 20 fires, including a dozen major incidents, state fire officials said
« The conditions are very, very dangerous, » said Mark Quinlan, operations commander of PG&E, of the weather forecast at the start of the week
Orange County, Silverado, wildfires, emergency evacuation, Southern California
News from around the world – United States – Two California firefighters seriously injured as the weather forecast should fan the flames
