Firefighters injured, dozens of homes destroyed in California wildfire

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

World | Fri Jun 24, 2016 1:48pm EDT

Firefighters injured, dozens of homes destroyed in California wildfire

LOS ANGELES | BY ALEX DOBUZINSKIS

A fast-moving central California wildfire has scorched 8,000 acres (3,237 hectares) of parched and rugged terrain in less than a day, destroying 100 structures and injuring three firefighters, fire officials said on Friday.

Authorities told residents of 1,500 homes to evacuate and the number of threatened homes is likely to grow, Kern County Fire Department Brian Marshall said at a news conference.

The so-called Erskine Fire broke out on Thursday at about 4 p.m. PDT (2300 GMT) in the foothills of Kern County, about 42 miles (68 km) northeast of Bakersfield, drawing in hundreds of firefighters to battle the entirely unconfined blaze.

The three firefighters were hospitalized for smoke inhalation, officials said.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-wildfires-idUSKCN0ZA1T1

[Warpy]

1. BBC has some great footage shot by the fire chief after the blaze had passed through

of houses burning on either side of what used to be a suburban street. At least our big fire here was in sparsely populated country.

No link, it's under "video" on the front page. http://www.bbc.com/news

[Hekate]

2. Kick

[Hortensis]

3. The foothills are very pretty to drive in.

Friends lived there for a while and we enjoyed visiting. But I can't imagine fighting fire in the Central Valley in summer. People who can do that must be tough enough for just about anything.