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After a wildfire spread rapidly in the US state of California and trapped numerous campers and vacationers, more than 200 people were rescued with the help of military helicopters. The sheriff announced in Madera County on Sunday morning (local time). 20 injured were transferred to hospitals. The rescue operation at the Mammoth Pool reservoir is now complete.
The flames from the so-called “Creek Fire” had spread to about 150 square kilometers in a national park in the Sierra Nevada, southeast of San Francisco, about the size of the city of Augsburg. A campsite at the Mammoth Pool Reservoir was cut off from the area because its access road was no longer passable due to the fire. According to the fire department, the fire in the Sierra National Forest threatened up to 3,000 homes. Evacuation was ordered for various locations.
The cause of the fire was initially unclear. The fire broke out on Friday night, just ahead of a long weekend in the US that many use for field trips. Next Monday is a holiday in the USA.
Eight dead, 6,000 square kilometers of scorched earth
Across California, according to a fire department situation report Sunday, more than 14,800 emergency services were busy and contained 23 major fires. Since the lightning that started the first fires in mid-August, more than 900 fires have occurred, he said. A good 6,000 square kilometers of land has been burned. That is more than twice the area of Luxembourg. So far at least eight people have died. Almost 3,300 buildings were reported to have been destroyed.
The fire department asked residents of affected regions in the state to spend as little time outdoors as possible due to rising temperatures this long holiday weekend. Temperatures of up to 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.7 degrees Celsius) were warned. New fires could easily break out in current weather conditions.
In California, the most populous state in the United States with about 40 million residents, severe wildfires and brush fires occur again and again. However, these usually only sprout in the fall. Northern California was especially caught earlier this year. Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in mid-August due to the “historic wildfires.”
