The Latest: Rural community sees complete devastation
The Latest: Rural community sees complete devastation
21 July 2017
published by https://www.washingtonpost.com
USA – FRESNO, Calif. The Latest on the wildfires burning in the west (all times local):
2:15 p.m.
Miki Crawford says only a chimney and a cinder block wall are left standing in the rubble of the house she and her family called home for 22 years.
A blaze burning since Sunday in the hills near Yosemite National Park has destroyed 58 homes and burned 115 square miles (298 square kilometers.)
Crawford and her husband, Jai Crawford, packed two cars with clothes, photographs, family heirlooms and their five small dogs and fled as a massive wildfire approached their rural community in Mariposa County.
The couple evacuated Tuesday morning, after the blaze burning in the hills near Yosemite National Park doubled in size. The following day their son hiked to the area and took photographs of the remains of their home.
She says she felt complete devastation while seeing the photographs.
The former nurses aid has also seen video of the wildfire moving into her community from two different directions.
She says it just looked like a fire storm.
12:25 p.m.
Authorities say a boy smoking marijuana was arrested for investigation of starting a small wildfire outside Sacramento.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said the fire on Thursday had threatened homes and prompted temporary evacuations in the Auburn area.
Authorities have not yet determined if the boy set the fire or purpose or if it was an accident. The boys name and age were not released.
The Placer County Sheriffs Office says he reported the fire to authorities.
The fire burned 12 acres. No homes were damaged and no injuries were reported.
11:55 a.m.
Firefighters in California have lifted an evacuation order for residents of a Gold Rush-era town that was threatened by a wildfire.
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman Andy Isolano said the order was ended Friday for residents of Mariposa near Yosemite National Park.
The historic town, popular with tourists headed to Yosemite, was cleared after the wildfire started Sunday.
The blaze has destroyed 58 homes and burned 115 square miles (298 square kilometers).
Many of the 5,000 people told to leave several foothill communities remain under evacuation orders as firefighters battle the ongoing blaze.
Isolano also says Highway 140 between Mariposa and Yosemite has been reopened.
Officials are investigating an injury accident involving a fire engine. No further details were available.
7:30 a.m.
Authorities say a stubborn wildfire burning in the Sierra Nevada foothills of California has destroyed 58 homes.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said Friday the fire grew slightly overnight to 115 square miles (298 square kilometers) and threatens at least 1,500 homes.
Firefighters are racing to control the blaze before it reaches the Gold-Rush era town of Mariposa.
The fire is 15 percent contained.
More than 3,800 firefighters are battling the blaze that has forced almost 5,000 people from homes in and around a half-dozen small communities.
2:15 a.m.
The town of Mariposa, with its century-old saloons and covered sidewalks, normally bustles with summer visitors on their way to Yosemite National Park but the Gold Rush-era hamlet was mostly empty as ash rained down and heavy smoke from a nearby blaze darkened the sky.
The blaze in the Sierra Nevada foothills threatened hundreds of homes and historic buildings, including a wood courthouse founded in 1854 and touted as the oldest active courthouse west of the Rocky Mountains.
The fire did not grow as significantly Thursday as it had earlier in the week, but state fire officials revealed late in the day that 99 structures have now been destroyed, 50 of them homes. Eleven homes and five other structures have been damaged. The wildfire has scorched 110 square miles (282 square kilometers), threatening at least 1,500 homes.
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Portugal is to reduce the number of eucalyptus groves after the highly flammable plant was blamed for last month’s deadly forest fires.
Parliament voted for the measure Wednesday as part of ongoing forest law reforms that started in April, before the blaze in the central Pedrogao Grande region that killed 64 people and injured more than 250.
Prime Minister Antonio Costa last week urged measures to prevent a repeat catastrophe, while also highlighting the challenges of forest redevelopment.
“We can’t refuse to curb the growth of eucalyptus because we’re worried about its impact on the paper industry,” he said last week, referring to a sector that represents 4.9 percent of Portuguese exports.
Eucalyptus is Portugal’s most widespread forest plant, according to the country’s Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests.
But it is cited as a cause offorest fires that lay waste annually to around 100,000 hectares of vegetation.
Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-07-eucalyptus-deadly-portugal-forest.html#jCpPortugal is to reduce the number of eucalyptus groves after the highly flammable plant was blamed for last month’s deadly forest fires.
Parliament voted for the measure Wednesday as part of ongoing forest law reforms that started in April, before the blaze in the central Pedrogao Grande region that killed 64 people and injured more than 250.
Prime Minister Antonio Costa last week urged measures to prevent a repeat catastrophe, while also highlighting the challenges of forest redevelopment.
“We can’t refuse to curb the growth of eucalyptus because we’re worried about its impact on the paper industry,” he said last week, referring to a sector that represents 4.9 percent of Portuguese exports.
Eucalyptus is Portugal’s most widespread forest plant, according to the country’s Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests.
But it is cited as a cause offorest fires that lay waste annually to around 100,000 hectares of vegetation.
Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-07-eucalyptus-deadly-portugal-forest.html#jCpPortugal is to reduce the number of eucalyptus groves after the highly flammable plant was blamed for last month’s deadly forest fires.
Parliament voted for the measure Wednesday as part of ongoing forest law reforms that started in April, before the blaze in the central Pedrogao Grande region that killed 64 people and injured more than 250.
Prime Minister Antonio Costa last week urged measures to prevent a repeat catastrophe, while also highlighting the challenges of forest redevelopment.
“We can’t refuse to curb the growth of eucalyptus because we’re worried about its impact on the paper industry,” he said last week, referring to a sector that represents 4.9 percent of Portuguese exports.
Eucalyptus is Portugal’s most widespread forest plant, according to the country’s Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests.
But it is cited as a cause offorest fires that lay waste annually to around 100,000 hectares of vegetation.
Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-07-eucalyptus-deadly-portugal-forest.html#jCpPortugal is to reduce the number of eucalyptus groves after the highly flammable plant was blamed for last month’s deadly forest fires.
Parliament voted for the measure Wednesday as part of ongoing forest law reforms that started in April, before the blaze in the central Pedrogao Grande region that killed 64 people and injured more than 250.
Prime Minister Antonio Costa last week urged measures to prevent a repeat catastrophe, while also highlighting the challenges of forest redevelopment.
“We can’t refuse to curb the growth of eucalyptus because we’re worried about its impact on the paper industry,” he said last week, referring to a sector that represents 4.9 percent of Portuguese exports.
Eucalyptus is Portugal’s most widespread forest plant, according to the country’s Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests.
But it is cited as a cause offorest fires that lay waste annually to around 100,000 hectares of vegetation.
Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-07-eucalyptus-deadly-portugal-forest.html#jCp
