AP breaking California wildfire spreads at staggering pace; 82,000 ordered to evacuate

[riversedge]

Source: BillingsGazette



AP breaking
California wildfire spreads at staggering pace; 82,000 ordered to evacuate

By JUSTIN PRITCHARD and SUDHIN THANAWALA Associated Press Updated 33 min ago 0

A new wildfire spread Tuesday at a staggering pace through drought parched canyons east of Los Angeles, growing to 10 square miles in a matter of hours and forcing the evacuation of thousands of people in a mountain resort town.

A fire official says more than 82,000 people have been told to evacuate from mountain communities threatened by a powerful wildfire in Southern California.

San Bernardino County fire spokesman Eric Sherwin says the evacuation orders were given to about 34,500 homes.

Sherwin says some structures have already burned, but it hasn't yet been determined whether any of them were homes.

Read more: http://billingsgazette.com/news/national/california-wildfire-spreads-at-staggering-pace-ordered-to-evacuate/article_2f3aa004-b7ca-5150-a566-9552304bce59.html

[yeoman6987]

2. Is this the result of the guy getting arrested today?

[SCVDem]

3. No.

That guy was arrested for the Northern Ca, fire.

[yeoman6987]

4. Thanks! Sadly two fires. Ugh.

[deathrind]

5. Good luck and stay safe...

To those who live in the area and to the women and men fighting the conflagration!
Remember there is nothing there that cannot be replaced or rebuilt except for you!

Be safe!

[Socal31]

6. Can see the smoke billowing from south OC.

Stay safe friends.

[haele]

8. We can see the smoke here in San Diego county wafting over the Lagunas.

That fire is huge. And it's heading our way.

Reminds me of 2003, when the Cedar fire traveled close to 60 miles south in a matter of hours; we were living in Lakeside, four blocks south of the last firebreak staging area - the Lakeside Rodeo. In fact, it was the first night the kidlet ever slept-over at a friend's house; when they knocked on the door to drop her off on the way to the evacuation center at three in the morning, the first thing in our minds were "oh, dear - what social faux paux occurred?" - and then we opened to door to what looked like snow falling in October. We could see the fire coming over the foothills only three miles away from the front door - this from a fire that had only burned a little over a hundred acres over 100 miles away when we went to bed at nine that night.

There were at least eight ranches just ten blocks up across the riverbed that went up in flames by six in the morning. The manager of our complex began dousing the roofs of the apartment buildings and the treetops with his power sprayer at four.
The kidlet and I went down to the lake with scrap fabric torn into long, wide strips and Home Depot buckets of fresh water for the livestock that was being evacuated down into the city park because the rodeo stables and barn was already full up just ten hours after the fire started.

This is scary bad, and it's early in the season.

Haele

[ripcord]

7. My niece and her baby had to evacuate from Wrightwood