No injuries were reported. The blaze grew from about 1,000 acres to around 16,000 acres, or 25 square miles, between Saturday morning and evening, said Daniel Berlant, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. About 200 firefighters were at the scene, Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Ron Myers said. \”The erratic behavior is because there is so much fuel out there to burn,\” Berlant said.
Griffith Park, one of the largest urban parks in the US, was closed, a city dispatcher said. About 2,000 homes faced at least some danger from the fast-spreading flames, according to fire officials. Guard Capt. It is burning on both sides of a steep, rugged canyon along the Merced River.
In Southern California, visitors were evacuated Sunday from the Los Angeles zoo as a fast-moving brush fire burned nearby in Griffith Park. Al Bosco said the helicopters are equipped with 660-gallon water buckets and can carry firefighters and equipment to the fires. The blaze has charred more than 18,000 acres since Friday as wooded slopes ignited amid hot, dry conditions that have plagued California for months. In Northern California, authorities said a firefighter died after being struck by a tree.
Also, a California-based Fire Hawk helicopter with a 1,000-gallon water tank is tentatively scheduled to join crews at the Telegraph fire, Bosco says. In all, about 2,000 homes are threatened, officials said. That\’s one of the reasons this fire\’s been able to burn so erratically,\” said Daniel Berlant, spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Crews had been hiking several hours to get to the fire because smoke had prohibited aircraft from flying in the area, Goetz says.
He had been based in Port Angeles, Wash. Palmer died while en route to a hospital, said Steve Ritchie, a spokesman for the Redding-area fire command center. Campers on nearby Bureau of Land Management land were evacuated as a precaution. Fire crews on Saturday afternoon were being flown into the hard-to-reach area.
The Blackhawk aircrews, from the Louisiana National Guard, were sent to California to help extinguish the more than 2,000 fires sparked by a massive lightning storm on June 21. The rare birds were not in immediate danger and fire fighters were on hand to protect the cages. Andrew Jackson Palmer was struck Friday while working on the Eagle Fire near Junction City, about 50 miles west of Redding. Midpines is on Highway 140, the thoroughfare that leads to the west entrance of Yosemite National Park.
Near Yosemite Valley, most of the evacuated homes are in the town of Midpines, but more homes in other small towns are being asked to prepare to leave the area, state fire spokeswoman Karen Guillemin said. The fire was completely uncontained Sunday. Guillemin said the cause of the fire, first reported Friday, was target shooting, but would not elaborate. The California National Guard plans to send two Blackhawk helicopters today.
