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California blazes threaten populated areas
LAKE ELSINORE, United States, Aug 11, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Authorities battling
massive wildfires in large swathes of California issued mandatory evacuation
orders and health warnings Friday over the worsening air quality as the
flames grew ever closer to populated areas.
After almost a month of wildfires, the National Weather Service warned
that satellite images showed “widespread smoke” drifting from the fires into
western and central Canada before heading back south in the US Northern
Plains.
The Kaibab National Forest service in neighboring Arizona warned that
“wildfires across the West are creating regional haze.”
But it was northern California where most air quality alerts were being
issued, with warnings of “unhealthy conditions” for vulnerable groups such as
the very young and old.
The Mendocino Complex, made of two separate blazes, has been declared the
most destructive fire in the state’s history.
Its largest blaze, the Ranch Fire, was only 53 percent contained compared
to 87 percent for its twin River Fire.
Further north, the Carr Fire was declared 51 percent under control, after
scorching 180,000 acres (73,000 hectares) of land and claiming the lives of
three firefighters and five civilians, making it California’s third deadliest
fire ever.
More than 14,000 firefighters, including reinforcements from as far away
as Australia and New Zealand, have fanned out across the state to stop the
multitude of infernos.
Some inmates even assisted in the effort. The Miramonte jail camp made a
fire line to stop the advancing Holy Fire from consuming homes in the area.
“Oh man, it’s hard, but we make it look easy,” said one of the inmates,
Michael Henson. “Man, you know, we (are) just trying to get the job done. You
know, us firefighters help protect the community.”
– Erratic court appearance –
The man accused of deliberately starting the latest fast-moving blaze
faces life in prison if convicted of arson and other charges.
Forrest Gordon Clark, 51, stands accused of starting the Holy Fire, which
in four days has burned more than 18,000 acres of Cleveland National Forest
60 miles (100 kilometers) north of San Diego. It is still spreading.
Prosecutors say Clark started the fire, which is only five percent
contained, with the intention of causing damage to others and burning a
forest. The blaze has razed a dozen properties so far.
MORE/SSS/0924 hrs
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He has also been charged with threatening neighbors — one of whom lost
his cabin in the fire — and resisting arrest. He faces sentences ranging
from 10 years to life imprisonment.
During his initial court appearance, Clark flipped his dark, waist-length
hair, spat and paced back and forth behind the chain-link fence of the court
cell.
“That’s a lie,” Clark interrupted the judge while charges were read. His
lawyers had to intervene repeatedly to ask him to keep quiet.
At first, Clark would not show his face, his lawyers saying he feared
reprisals against his family.
His lawyers asked to postpone the preliminary hearings by a week so that
they could study the government’s evidence.
“May I pay for that immediately? Can I post bail? I can handle a million
(dollars) right now, easily,” Clark added, but the judge refused his request.
He had refused to leave his jail cell on Thursday.
Mike Milligan, the local volunteer fire chief who owns a cabin near
Clark’s, told The Orange County Register that Clark had long-running feuds
with neighbors in the area.
Milligan said that Clark had recently sent him an email warning, “this
place will burn.”
The head of the Orange County team fighting the Holy Fire said the blaze
had started near Clark’s cabin in Jim Canyon.
Before his arrest, Clark told a reporter he had nothing to with the fire.
“I was asleep. I had two earplugs in,” he told the reporter. “I woke up
and my stuff was all on fire,” he said. He also claimed he had been
threatened by the MS-13 gang.
– Mass evacuations –
The blaze has already forced the evacuation of 7,400 homes and more than
21,000 people. Many schools have been forced to close, and more evacuation
orders were being issued.
InciWeb, the interagency incident information management system offering
updates on more than a dozen fires in the tinder-dry west of the country,
said that “steep inaccessible terrain will continue to allow the fire to
spread into new areas.”
High temperatures were expected to worsen conditions and “increase the
likelihood of extreme fire behavior as well as heat illness issues for the
firefighters and the public,” it said.
The forest service said: “We continue to actively engage, but cannot get
ahead of the fire.”
California Governor Jerry Brown has declared a state of emergency for
Orange and Riverside counties, where the fire is concentrated.
BSS/AFP/SSS/0925 hrs