California fires – 200 campers rescued by military helicopters – News

• A rapidly spreading wildfire has trapped numerous campers and tourists in California.
• More than 200 people were evacuated from the Mammoth Pool reservoirs with military helicopters on Sunday. 20 injured were transferred to hospitals.
• As of Saturday morning, about 1,000 people remained trapped in the flames at a camp in the Sierra Nevada National Park. The only access road was not passable due to the forest fire.

The trapped campers and tourists were rescued with the help of military helicopters, reports the City of Fresno Fire Department. 20 people had to be transferred to hospitals, 65 people received medical attention at the Fresno Yosemite airport.

Campers threatened by the flames from the so-called Creek Fire had previously been instructed to escape into the water of the Mammoth Pool Reservoir in an extreme emergency, “The Fresno Bee” reported.

According to the fire department, up to 3,000 houses are threatened by the flames. Evacuation was ordered for various locations.

The fire in the Sierra National Forest, south of Yosemite National Park, broke out Friday night. It has spread over an area of ​​150 square kilometers.

According to the fire department, more than 14,800 emergency services were busy and contained 23 major fires across California. Since the lightning that started the first fires in mid-August, more than 900 fires have occurred. Some 6,000 square kilometers of land have been burned. That is more than twice the area of ​​Luxembourg. So far at least eight people have died.

Almost 3,300 houses have already been destroyed. More than 10,500 people are still unable to return to their houses and apartments. The two largest fires recently occurred near the metropolis of San Francisco.

The fire department asked residents of the affected regions to spend as little time outdoors as possible due to rising temperatures on this long holiday weekend. New fires could easily break out in current weather conditions. Labor Day, a commemorative day for the labor movement, is celebrated in the United States on Monday.