California Sees Victory Over Fires in Grasp
Posted on: Tuesday, 15 July 2008, 06:00 CDT
By William M. Welch
LOS ANGELES -- California officials say they are getting the upper hand on what has become the worst siege of wildfires since the state began keeping records.
"We now have light at the end of the tunnel," Daniel Berlant, spokesman for the state's Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention, or CalFire, said Monday.
Firefighters have contained nearly 1,500 of 1,781 wildfires that have broken out across the tinder-dry state since thunderstorms June 20 brought fire-starting lightning.
The fires have consumed almost 840,000 acres in national forests as well as state, private and local land.
Lisa Page, spokeswoman for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, said the devastation has come early in the year, compared with past years, and appeared to be the most acres burned in the state over a comparable period going back to at least 1950, when records were first kept. She and Berlant said inadequate records made it difficult to say with certainty whether 2008 has set an absolute record for acres burned this early in the year.
"It's a record for a single fire series or siege," Berlant said.
The fires have consumed more acres than the firestorms last fall across Southern California, fanned by hot desert winds. More than 642,000 acres were burned, including large sections of neighborhoods in and around San Diego.
Late last week, the governor ordered 2,000 National Guard members to join firefighters. On Monday, firefighters from Australia, Greece, Mexico and New Zealand were en route to California to assist efforts, CalFire said in a statement.
Several big fires were more than 50% contained, the governor's Office of Emergency Services said, including a fire that has burned almost 120,000 acres and threatened Big Sur along the coast. It is 61% contained, and 1,400 residences remain threatened; 27 homes have been destroyed.
A fire that once threatened the Southern California coastal town of Santa Barbara is 90% contained. (c) Copyright 2008 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.
Source: USA TODAY
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