New Wildfire Spreads in Central California Mountains

By Staff, Agencies

California's wildfire has spread rapidly in the state's central mountains, with blaze sweeping through the Sierra Nevada range northeast of San Francisco in just four days.

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection [Cal Fire] said stronger winds were pushing the Mosquito Fire to the north and northeast, threatening hundreds of homes. Earlier, cooler temperatures had slowed the blaze's progress.

According to a public information officer from the local firefighters, the Mosquito Fire has consumed 29,585 acres of land and has doubled its size since Thursday.

The fire is one of two massive fires California is dealing with.

Cal Fire said several more evacuation orders and warnings have been issued in the small town of Foresthill.

The towns of Georgetown, Volcanoville and Bottle Hill were ordered to evacuate earlier.

"This is the fourth time we've been evacuated up here," Josh Manzer of Volcanoville told the Bee, "but this is the worst of it."

The Mosquito Fire, ripping through parts of El Dorado and Placer counties, is just 10 percent contained, authorities said Sunday.

Cal Fire spokesman Chris Vestal said while wildfires in California frequently occur in difficult terrain, in this one "there's nowhere that has anywhere that's flat."

Airplanes and helicopters are assisting ground crews as weather allows, authorities said.

On Saturday, firefighters were able to beat back the massive Fairview Fire south of Los Angeles after a tropical storm brought rains and cooler temperatures.

The fire claimed two lives and destroyed 20 buildings amid a ferocious heat wave scorching the US southwest.

The western United States is grappling with more than two decades of a historic drought that scientists say is being worsened by human-made climate change.

Much of the countryside is parched and overgrown, creating the conditions for hot, fast and destructive wildfires.