Huge Calif. fire sweeps toward resort town, forest

By Dan Whitcomb

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A massive California wildfire
marched toward a mountain resort town and a brittle national
forest on Thursday, threatening to combine with a second blaze
in what state officials called a “very critical” situation.

Crews tried to establish battle lines at the western edge
of the fierce fire — which has already blackened more than
40,000 acres and destroyed nearly 100 buildings in the
California desert north of Palm Springs — before it reached
the mountain community of Big Bear Lake.

State officials also worried about the wind-fueled flames
reaching stands of dead trees in the San Bernadino National
Forest and the possibly explosive result of a meeting between
the huge fire and a 2,000-acre (810-ha) blaze burning nearby.

“It will be an intense situation,” California Department of
Forestry spokeswoman Karen Guillemin said of the two fires
merging. “There will be a tremendous amount of fuel on fire and
a lot of energy being released at one time. The situation here
is very critical.”

The so-called Sawtooth fire, which was ignited by lightning
strikes on Sunday, was moving very quickly, fueled by
temperatures near 100 degrees (38 C), humidity below 20 percent
and hot gusts of wind. The blaze, which 1,300 firefighters
struggled to contain, produced huge plumes of black and gray
smoke visible as far away as Nevada.

“The things that are burning here — plants trees, shrubs
– everything is very dry,” Guillemin said. “There’s been a
drought in the area and the moisture levels are critically low.
It’s a major heads-up situation for firefighters.”

Guillemin said crews were optimistic that they could
prevent the fire from reaching the Big Bear area but worried
about the flames reaching the national forest, which had been
hit hard by beetle infestations.

“There are some major bug kill areas in the forest where 80
to 100 percent of the trees are dead,” she said. “If the fire
started in (one of those areas of the forest) it would be
almost impossible to stop.”

Mandatory evacuations were in place for at least five
communities with residents of other areas being advised of
danger. Guillemin said more than 3,000 structures were
considered threatened.

In the area evacuated was Pioneertown, a tourist attraction
that has served as the backdrop for Hollywood westerns since
the 1950s.