Thousands evacuated in wildfires from California to Idaho

Several days of extreme temperatures have stoked a wildfire in Southern California that burned so hot it created its own thunderstorm-like weather systems, but firefighters hope to gain the upper hand as cooler weather is expected to move in after Tuesday.

The so-called Line Fire has forced at least 6,000 people to evacuate, and threatened thousands of homes and commercial structures as it burns along the edge of San Bernardino National Forest, about 65 miles east of Los Angeles.

“We’re dealing with triple-digit temperatures and hard-to-reach steep areas where there has not been fire in decades, or in recorded history, so all that vegetation has led to significant fuel loads,” Cal Fire spokesperson Rick Carhart said.

The conditions have limited firefighters’ ability to control the blaze, which has created the type of clouds that can spawn gusty winds and lightning strikes.

As of Tuesday morning, the blaze had charred about 41 square miles of grass and brush and blanketed the area with a thick cloud of dark smoke. It was 5% contained.

The blaze is one of many burning across the West, including in Idaho, Oregon and Nevada, where about 20,000 people had to flee a fire outside Reno.

The Line Fire is one of the most dangerous of many in California, including one north of San Francisco that destroyed more than two dozen homes and another that broke out in Orange County, southeast of Los Angeles.

In Northern California, a fire measuring less than a square mile that started Sunday burned at least 30 homes and commercial buildings and destroyed 40 to 50 vehicles in Clearlake City, 110 miles north of San Francisco, officials said. Roughly 4,000 people were forced to evacuate by the so-called Boyles Fire, which was about 40% contained Monday afternoon.

In Nevada, the uncontained Davis Fire burning about 20 miles outside Reno grew to about 10 square miles after igniting Sunday. It originated in the Davis Creek Regional Park in the Washoe Valley and was burning in heavy timber and brush, firefighters said.

In Idaho, fire managers were prepared for an active day, with warm, dry and windy conditions and even more challenges on Tuesday. The Boulder and the Lava Fires are burning in western Idaho.

In central Oregon, several blazes prompted evacuation warnings, including one west of Mount Bachelor in the Deschutes National Forest.



(Photo: Paul Bersebach/The Orange County Register via AP)