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U.S. NEWS Monday 12 SepteMber 2022

Weather helping, but threat from Western fires persists

FORESTHILL, Calif. (AP) — has covered a large por-
Firefighters made progress tion of the Northern Sierra
against a huge Northern region with smoke. Califor-
California wildfire that was nia health officials urged
still growing and threaten- people in affected areas
ing thousands of mountain to stay indoors where pos-
homes on Sunday, while sible. Organizers of the Tour
crews also battled major de Tahoe canceled the
blazes that blanketed large annual 72-mile (115-km)
swaths of Oregon and bicycle ride scheduled
Washington in smoke. Sunday around Lake Ta-
The Mosquito Fire in foothills hoe because of the heavy
east of Sacramento spread smoke from the blaze —
to nearly 65 square miles more than 50 miles (80
(168 square kilometers), km) away. Last year's ride
with 10% containment, ac- was canceled because of
cording to the California smoke from another big fire
Department of Forestry and south of Tahoe.
Fire Protection, or Cal Fire. The Mosquito Fire's cause
"Cooler temperatures and remained under investiga-
higher humidity assisted tion. Pacific Gas & Electric
with moderating some fire Firefighter Trapper Gephart of Alaska's Pioneer Peak Interagency Hotshot crew takes a drink while said unspecified "electrical
activity," but higher winds battling the Mosquito Fire in the Volcanoville community of El Dorado County, Calif., on Friday, activity" occurred close in
allowed the flames to push Sept. 9, 2022. time to the report of the fire
to the north and northeast, Associated Press on Tuesday. Scientists say
according to a Cal Fire inci- climate change has made
dent report Sunday. Sunday. The fire has de- Kay made landfall in Mexi- vens Pass area that sent the West warmer and drier
More than 5,800 structures stroyed at least 30 homes co last week it quickly was hikers fleeing and forced over the last three decades
in Placer and El Dorado and other structures in Riv- downgraded and weak- evacuations of mountain and will continue to make
counties were under threat erside County. Two people ened further until it largely communities. There was no weather more extreme
and some 11,000 residents died while fleeing flames disappeared, forecasters containment Sunday of the and wildfires more frequent
of communities including last Monday. said. To the north, remnants Bolt Creek Fire, which had and destructive. In the last
Foresthill and Georgetown The southern part of the of Kay caused flooding Sat- scorched nearly 12 square five years, California has
were under evacuation or- state welcomed the cool- urday that stranded about miles (31 square kilometers) experienced the largest
ders. er weekend weather as a 40 vehicles and closed a of forestland about an hour and most destructive fires
In Southern California, cool- tropical storm veered off stretch of State Route 190 in and a half east of Seattle. in state history.
er temperatures and rain the Pacific Coast and fad- Death Valley National Park. "The fire will continue to And the rest of the West
brought respite to firefight- ed, helping put an end to The park was still cleaning advance in areas that will hasn't been immune. There
ers battling the massive blistering temperatures that up from floods five weeks be unstaffed. With limited were at least 18 large fires
Fairview Fire about 75 miles nearly overwhelmed the ago that closed many key resources, only point pro- burning in Oregon and
(121 kilometers) southeast state's electrical grid. roads. tection will be in place Washington, leading to
of Los Angeles after swel- Thunderstorms and the In Washington state, fire of- while resources continue to evacuations and targeted
tering heat last week. risk of flooding persisted ficials were scrambling to mobilize to the fire," said a power outages near Port-
The 44-square-mile in mountainous areas of secure resources in the bat- Sunday morning incident land as the challenge of
(114-square-kilometer) greater Los Angeles on tle against a blaze sparked report. dry and windy conditions
blaze was 45% contained Sunday. But after Hurricane Saturday in the remote Ste- California's Mosquito Fire continued in the region.q

Border Patrol halts tweets from

agency’s West Texas region

EL PASO, Texas (AP) — U.S. Texas Twitter account. The rebuild a humane, orderly
Customs and Border Pro- agency's Office of Profes- and secure immigration
tection has deactivated sional Responsibility will in- system," Magnus said in a
the agency's Twitter ac- vestigate, Magnus said. statement.
count for the West Texas "This must not happen A human rights advocate
region after it retweeted again," his statement said. and a former immigration
posts criticizing President On Saturday, the account attorney posted tweets
Joe Biden's border policies retweeted posts by Ste- Saturday noting the ac-
and liked posts that made phen Miller that criticized count had retweeted
gay slurs against U.S. Trans- Biden's immigration poli- Miller's criticisms and then
portation Secretary Pete cies and claimed the gov- looked back and found Migrants are processed by the Border Patrol after illegally
crossing the Rio Grande river from Mexico into the U.S. at Eagle
Buttigieg. CBP Commis- ernment was ignoring vio- other posts the account Pass, Texas, Friday, Aug. 26, 2022.
sioner Chris Magnus post- lent crime. Miller was the had liked. In October 2021, Associated Press
ed a tweet late Saturday architect of former Presi- it was announced that 60
saying the agency "has dent Donald Trump's hard- Border Patrol agents had lawmakers. Customs and two were. The existence
become aware of unau- line immigration policies. committed misconduct Border Protection's Disci- of the Facebook page,
thorized and inappropri- "The tweets do not reflect by participating in a pri- pline Review Board rec- which had about 9,500
ate content" that was the values of this admin- vate Facebook group that ommended that 24 of the members, was reported in
posted on the @CBPWest- istration and our work to mocked migrants and agents be fired, but only July 2019.q