Three massive wildfires erupted Sunday through parched northern California landscape on Sunday as firefighters raced to dig breaks and make other preparations ahead of a terrible weather system that caught high winds and more of the lightning that extinguished the enormous and scores of other fires erupted, putting nearly a quarter -million people under evacuation files and warnings.
At the CZU Lightning Complex fire in the Santa Cruz Mountains, south of San Francisco, authorities announced the discovery of the body of a 70-year-old man in a remote area called Last Chance. The man was reported missing and police had to use a helicopter to reach the area, which is a string of about 40 houses outside the net at the end of a windy, steep dirt road north of downtown Santa Cruz.
The area was under an evacuation board and Santa Cruz sheriff’s chief replacement Chris Clark said it was a strong reminder of the need for residents to leave the area.
“This is one of the darkest periods we’ve been through this fire,” he said.
The death toll was the first for the CZU fire and seventh fire victim in the state in the past week that saw 650 wildfires in California, many sparkling through the more than 12,000 light streaks recorded since August 15th. There are 14,0000 firefighters. 2,400 engines and 95 aircraft fighting the fires.
The Santa Cruz fire is one of three “complexes”, like groups of fires, burning on all sides of the San Francisco Bay Area. All were started by lightning.
Fire crews made progress over the weekend, which saw a welcome break in the unusually warm weather and not much wind. That allowed firefighters to increase what had been costly little containment.
But the forecast late on Sunday was dire. The National Water Service issued a ‘red flag’ warning on Monday afternoon for the drought-affected area, which means extreme fire conditions, including high temperatures, low humidity, lightning and wind speeds up to 65 km / h, which “can result in dangerous and unpredictable fire behavior “.
Mark Brunton, a battalion commander for the California Department of State Forest Management and Fire Protection (Cal Fire), said while he was confident firefighters were doing the most with the time they had to prepare, he was not sure what to expect.
“There’s a lot of potential for things to go really crazy out there,” he said.
The LNU Lightning Complex fire in wine country north of San Francisco and SCU Lightning Complex southeast of the city have grown to become two of the three largest fires in state history, both burning more than 500 square miles. The LNU fire has been the deadliest and most destructive, accounting for five dead and 845 destroyed homes and other buildings. Three victims were sitting in a house under an evacuation board.
Officials investigating maps at command centers are surprised by the sheer size of the fires, Calice spokeswoman Brice Bennett said.
“You could cover half of one of these fires and it would cover the entire city of San Francisco,” Bennett said.
In Southern California, an 11-day-old blitz held steady at just under 50 square miles at Lake Hughes in the northern mountains of Los Angeles. Rough terrain, hot weather and the potential for thunder with lightning strikes challenge firefighters on Sunday.
Authorities said their effort in Santa Cruz was hampered by people refusing to evacuate and those using the chaos to steal. Sheriff Jim Hart, of Santa Cruz, said 100 officers were patrolling and anyone who was not authorized to be in an evacuation would be arrested.
“What we hear from the community is that there is a lot of looting,” Hart said.
He and District Attorney Jeff Rosell expressed outrage over what Rosell called the “absolutely soulless” people trying to beat the victims who had already been hit by the fire. Among the victims was a firefighter who was robbed when he left his car.
“I can not imagine a bigger life empty,” Hart said, promising to catch him and promising “the DA will hamper him.”
Holly Hansen, who fled the LNU fire, was allowed among evacuees from the Angwin community to return to her homes for one hour to pick up belongings. She and her three dogs waited five hours in their SUV in turn. Among the items she took with her were photos of her pets.
‘It’s awful, I live in Sonoma [2017] Tubbs Fire, so this is time No2 for me. It’s awful when you have to think about what to take, ‘she said. ‘I think it’s a very raw human basic emotion to be afraid of fire and lose everything. It’s horrible. ‘
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