Tag: northern california
Firefighter Dies Battling Northern California Wildfire

Firefighter Dies Battling Northern California Wildfire

By Joseph Serna, Los Angeles Times (TNS)

California Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency Friday for Northern California counties hit by wildfires, and officials announced that a U.S. Forest Service firefighter had died on the front lines in Modoc County.

David Ruhl, a South Dakota firefighter who had been working in California for several weeks, died Thursday while fighting the Frog fire, according to a statement on InciWeb. Few details were immediately provided, but the statement said Ruhl’s body was found by search and rescue personnel.

“This loss of life is tragic and heartbreaking,” Forest Supervisor Amanda McAdams said in the statement. “Please keep the family and all of our Forest Service employees in your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time.”

Officials are investigating how Ruhl died.

Late Friday, Brown issued a statement from himself and wife, Anne, saying they “were saddened to learn of the tragic death” of Ruhl, “who left his home state to help protect one of California’s majestic forests…. We extend our deepest condolences to his family, friends, and colleagues with the U.S. Forest Service.”

The Frog fire has burned 800 acres near Adin, California, in the northeast corner of the state.

The U.S. Forest Service said it was lowering its flags to half-staff in Ruhl’s memory. The announcement came shortly after Brown declared the state of emergency.

“California’s severe drought and extreme weather have turned much of the state into a tinderbox,” Brown said in a statement. “Our courageous firefighters are on the front lines and we’ll do everything we can to help them.”

The declaration will allow faster deployment of resources to the fire zones, including the National Guard, if that is deemed necessary.

The state of emergency came as a fast-moving fire north of Napa Valley continued to grow Friday and new evacuations were ordered for residents in a nearby rural town, authorities said.

The Rocky fire grew to 18,000 acres and was 5 percent contained, according to a tweet from Daniel Berlant, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The Lake County Sheriff’s Department issued a mandatory evacuation for Jerusalem Valley residents before 10 a.m., after the blaze moved north and jumped a road.

About 650 residents have fled their homes since the blaze began Wednesday afternoon.

Water-dropping aircraft and firefighters on the ground have been working around the clock to douse the flames and dig a containment line around the blaze, according to Cal Fire. The Rocky fire began at 4:10 p.m. Wednesday near Morgan Valley and Rocky Creek roads, 62 miles north of Napa, and traveled quickly, spreading into heavy brush and woodlands, Cal Fire said.

Firefighters were still assessing the damage caused by the massive blaze, but officials said the flames have so far destroyed three structures and multiple outbuildings.

The blaze is one of 18 large wildfires burning in California, requiring the deployment of nearly 8,000 firefighters.

In response to the wildfires, the National Guard mobilized nine helicopters to help state firefighters. Authorities are worried that thunderstorms forecast for the weekend could trigger dry-lightning strikes and more blazes.

On Thursday, a fire swept through an Isleton mobile home park, destroying seven mobile homes and forcing residents to flee. A small vegetation fire in the Solano County delta town got out of control and reached the homes before firefighters could quell the flames.

“We don’t have a hydrant system out here, so once our apparatus runs out of water, we have to rely on water from river drafting, which takes up a little bit of effort setting that up,” Assistant Chief of the River Delta Fire Department Jessie Rosewall told Fox 40.

Photo: Los Angeles county firefighters battle wild land fire in Wrightwood, California, July 17, 2015. REUTERS/Gene Blevins 

California Gov. Brown Declares State Of Emergency As Wildfires Rage

California Gov. Brown Declares State Of Emergency As Wildfires Rage

By Joseph Serna, Los Angeles Times

California Gov. Jerry Brown has declared a state of emergency for two Northern California counties overwhelmed by wildfires that have burned tens of thousands of acres and hundreds of homes.

The emergency declarations cover El Dorado and Siskiyou counties, which have been ravaged by the King and Boles fires, respectively.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency on Wednesday granted a request for aid that can cover up to 75 percent of the state’s costs to fight the King fire; federal aid already had been approved for the Boles fire, as well as the Courtney fire in Madera County.

Combined, the three fires have burned nearly 100,000 acres.

The most destructive in terms of damage to property has been the Boles fire, which erupted late Monday and quickly tore through the logging town of Weed, just west of Mt. Shasta. The fire damaged or destroyed more than 150 structures, including churches, a library, and the town’s sawmill. About 2,000 homes and other buildings remain threatened by the blaze, which was 65 percent contained Thursday.

The fast-moving King fire in El Dorado County, meanwhile, exploded in size overnight, from 27,930 acres to nearly 71,000 acres. More than 2,000 homes and 1,500 other buildings were threatened by the blaze, which was just 5 percent contained as of Thursday morning, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. More than 3,300 firefighters have been assigned to the blaze.

In Madera County, the 320-acre Courtney fire has destroyed 30 homes, 19 outbuildings, and 13 vehicles. It was 70 percent contained as of Wednesday evening.

Meanwhile, the state’s largest fire continues to be the Happy Camp Complex fire in Klamath National Forest. The fire, which began Aug. 12 and has burned more than 125,000 acres, is 68 percent contained, the U.S. Forest Service reported.

That blaze is made up of 15 fires, all of which were sparked by lightning.

Photo: Steve Rhodes via Flickr

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Northern California Wildfire Threatens More Than 2,000 Homes

Northern California Wildfire Threatens More Than 2,000 Homes

By Adolfo Flores, Los Angeles Times

The King fire in Northern California has grown to about 27,930 acres and now threatens 2,007 homes in forest communities east of Sacramento, officials reported.

In addition to the homes, the blaze also threatens 1,505 other structures as firefighters struggle against strengthening winds, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Winds continued to drive the fire east, west, and north over mountain and ridges and through deep canyon troughs. Spotting — or embers lighting fires ahead of the flames — has also helped fuel the blaze, said Laurence Crabtree, a U.S. Forest Service supervisor for the Eldorado National Forest.

The King fire, which erupted Sunday, is 5 percent contained, fire officials said. About 3,300 firefighters are battling the blaze, which is burning in steep terrain in the South Fork of the American River Canyon and Silver Creek Canyon, north of the community of Pollock Pines.

On Wednesday afternoon, the fire made a significant run to the northwest, forcing more evacuations.

“It’s been growing all day,” said Daniel Berlant, a spokesman with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. “Extremely dry conditions have really allowed this fire to grow and over the next couple of days we’re expecting the wind to pick up, so that’s going to challenge us significantly.”

The blaze has become one of the largest and most unruly of 10 major wildfires burning across California, mainly in the central and northern parts of the state.

The Black fire north of Lake Mendocino was contained Wednesday afternoon, Berlant said. It had burned 403 acres.

Firefighters battling the Boles fire made some headway against the 375-acre fire, with 60 percent of the blaze contained by Wednesday evening, up from 30 percent earlier in the day.

The fire erupted late Monday and quickly ravaged the logging town of Weed, just west of Mt. Shasta, damaging or destroying more than 150 structures, including such community institutions as churches, a library, and the town’s sawmill.

The cause of the fire is under investigation. Authorities are offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the cause of the blaze. Anyone with information is asked to call (800) 468-4408.

In Madera County, the 320-acre Courtney fire was 70% contained Wednesday evening. That fire had destroyed 30 homes, 19 outbuildings, and 13 vehicles.

All evacuation orders for the area were lifted about 6 p.m., but fire crews remained at the scene to watch for new spot fires and hot spots, the Forest Service said.

The Happy Camp Complex fire in Klamath National Forest remains the largest wildfire in California at 125,788 acres. That fire is 68 percent contained.

That blaze is made up of 15 fires, all of which were sparked by lightning Aug. 12.

AFP Photo/Justin Sullivan

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Charter Bus, FedEx Drivers In Fiery Crash Had Clean Driving Records

Charter Bus, FedEx Drivers In Fiery Crash Had Clean Driving Records

By Christine Mai-Duc, Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES — The drivers of a FedEx freight truck and charter bus that collided head-on last week in Northern California, killing 10, had clean driving records, according to the California Department of Motor Vehicles.

The bus company, Silverado Stages, identified the driver late Monday as Talalelei Lealao-Taiao. Family members identified Tim Evans, a 32-year-old husband and father of two young girls, as the FedEx driver. Both were among the 10 killed when the FedEx truck barreled across a grassy median on Interstate 5 north of Sacramento and hit the bus carrying 48 people, including 44 Southern California high school students en route to Humboldt State University.

Also among those killed in the fiery crash in Orland were three adult chaperons and five high school students.

DMV records did show that Lealao-Taiao’s license had been suspended for about a month in 2004, but no explanation was available because records are purged every 10 years, said Jan Mendoza, a department spokeswoman. In general, the reasons can range from an unpaid parking ticket to driving under the influence, officials said.

It was also not immediately clear what type of license it was.

Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board have been trying to figure out what caused the crash, using video footage and witness accounts to piece together the sequence of events. They plan to examine two new pieces of video evidence: One is cellphone video shot by the driver of a Nissan Altima hit by the truck just before it slammed into the bus. The other is footage from a dashboard camera provided by the California Highway Patrol.

More clues may also be available from a black box-type recorder on the bus that collects vehicle data. The FedEx truck also was equipped with a recorder, but it was destroyed in the fire.

The NTSB was in the process of learning the exact nature of the contents being hauled by Evans at the time of the crash. Officials have said the two semi-trailers — one partly loaded, the other empty — were being returned to Sacramento when the collision occurred.

Debbie Otto, the stepmother of Evans’ wife, Candice, described her son-in-law as a gentle, devoted family man who always wore a smile.

“He was never in a bad mood, never angry,” Otto said. “He’s like the Boy Scout that would always stop and help the little old lady. But he was like that with everyone.”

At family gatherings, nieces, nephews and cousins “gravitated” toward his laughter and good nature, she said.

Evans was also a hands-on father, coaching softball and soccer teams and making his signature breakfast burritos on the weekends, Otto added.

“We are all just wondering if we can all just wake up already. It can’t be real,” she said.

Evans and his wife were high school sweethearts. In a Facebook post, Candice Evans said her husband was “my best friend, my teammate, my rock, my partner in crime.”

“He was the guy who ‘just stopped by to say hi’ and had a way of making everyone feel happy,” she wrote.

Friends and family were also mourning the loss of the bus driver, Lealao-Taiao.

Silverado Stages posted a statement on its website Monday, saying the company “mourns the loss of their friend, driver and valued employee, Talalelei Lealao-Taiao, who was among those who died in the accident.”

Lealao-Taiao, 53, joined the company in late March after her former employer closed its Sacramento bus yard.

“She had a very clean, spotless safety record when she was with us and was very well-liked by everybody she worked with,” said John Busskohl, chief executive of Ryan’s Express Transportation, where Lealao-Taiao had worked for about 2 1/2 years before moving to Silverado Stages.

News of her death hit his colleagues hard as well, Busskohl said.

“It was tough on some folks here for sure,” he said.

Her daughter, Jordayna Lealao, thanked friends and family for their outpouring of remembrances in one Facebook post.

“This is a time that we should celebrate the beautiful life my mother lived,” the post read. “I know she wouldn’t wont (sic) us to be sad right now.”

The Glenn County coroner said Monday that none of the 10 victims had been officially identified because of the extent of damage to the bodies. Authorities are relying on dental records and DNA analysis. Some families, however, have confirmed some of the names of the dead.

Photo: Greg953 via Wikimedia Commons