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U.S. NEWS Wednesday 8 august 2018
Biggest blaze in California history challenges firefighters

Continued from Front ing to stop that fire,” said
Kyle Coleman, 28, who
A few days after the Up- returned to his childhood
per Lake fire started, Cal home last week to help
Fire Battalion Chief John his father try — in vain, it
Messina told a commu- turned out — to protect it.
nity meeting that with so “A big wall of flames came
many fires already raging over the mountain ... I pret-
in California, “resources ty much got my dad out of
are already committed” there.”
so officials were forced to In all, 14,000 firefighters
prioritize public safety and were battling blazes across
private property. California, which is seeing
“After those two things are earlier, longer and more
addressed then we’ll go destructive wildfire seasons
after the pieces of fire that because of drought, warm-
are in remote areas,” Mes- er weather attributed to
sina said. “Typically, we’d climate change, and the
go at all at once. There is building of homes deeper
just not the resources for into the forests.
that.” The flames were rag- “Cal Fire is really an urban
ing in mostly remote areas, firefighter service in the
and no deaths or serious in- woods,” said Arizona State
juries were reported. But at University professor Ste- In this Tuesday, July 31, 2018, file photo, a fire crew from San Luis Obispo County keeps an eye on
least 75 homes have been phen Pyne, a wildfire man- an advancing wildfire from the perimeter of a residence in Lakeport, Calif.
lost, and thousands of agement expert. Associated Press
people have been forced The Mendocino Complex
to flee. The blaze, dubbed is actually two blazes burn-
the Mendocino Complex, ing so close together that
was reported 20 percent authorities are attacking
contained on Tuesday. them as one, a common
Its rapid growth at the practice at Cal Fire. The
same time firefighters were fires started within an hour
battling more than a dozen of each other about 15
other major blazes around miles (25 kilometers) apart.
the state fanned fears that As of Tuesday, they were
2018 could become the separated by just a few
worst wildfire season in Cal- miles. Officials have not de-
ifornia history. termined the cause of ei-
“For whatever reason, fires ther one. In becoming the
are burning much more in- biggest fire in California his-
tensely, much more quickly tory , the Mendocino Com-
than they were before,” plex fire broke a record set
said Mark A. Hartwig, presi- just eight months ago. A
dent of the California Fire blaze in Southern Califor-
Chiefs Association. nia in December killed two
About 3,900 firefighters, in- people, burned 440 square
cluding a crew of 40 vol- miles (1,140 square kilome-
unteers from New Zealand, ters) and destroyed more
were battling the blaze, than 1,000 buildings.
contending with tempera- Crews also gained ground
tures in the high 90s and this week against another
winds gusting to 25 mph Northern California wildfire
(40 kph). The heavily forest- near the city of Redding
ed area of myriad canyons that was blamed for at
where the fire is spreading least six deaths.
has few roads or natural Meanwhile, a blaze burn-
barriers that can serve as ing near Yosemite National
firebreaks or offer safe ha- Park has been raging for
vens for firefighters to battle nearly a month but is still
the flames head on, Cal just one-third as large as
Fire Battalion Chief Jona- the biggest fire, though
than Cox said. dense smoke has closed
So firefighters instead fell much of the park to visitors
back to natural barriers for the past two weeks.
such as streams or used California’s firefighting
bulldozers to cut fire lines, costs have more than tri-
but the flames were mov- pled from $242 million in
ing so fast in spots that they the 2013 fiscal year to $773
blew past, forcing firefight- million in the 2018 fiscal
ers to retreat, Cox said. year that ended June 30,
“There’s no way you’re go- according to Cal Fire.q