Firefighters gain on California wildfires as weather cooperates

A USGS geologist making observations of the fissure 8 lava channel at sunset is pictured in this July 3, 2018 fisheye lens handout photograph near the Kilauea volcano eruption in Hawaii, U.S. USGS/Handout via REUTERS

(Reuters) – Firefighters are gaining momentum as they battle several wildfires that have destroyed dozens of homes and forced the evacuation of thousands of residents in California.

Across the state, milder weather over the last couple of days has helped firefighters to hold the line against several blazes, allowing them to lift evacuation orders for residents forced to flee their homes.

Temperatures are expected to fall this week in parts of the state, the National Weather Service said, after scorching heat, high winds and low humidity fanned dozens of fires this summer in a particularly intense fire season across the U.S. West.

“The weather is starting to cooperate, so it’s letting firefighters get the upper hand on the fires,” said Lynette Round, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, called Cal Fire.

U.S. wildfires have already burned more than 3.3 million acres (1.3 million hectares) this year, more than the annual average of about 2.6 million acres over the past 10 years, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

One person has been killed and three firefighters injured in a wildfire on the California-Oregon border. That blaze, the Klamathon Fire, has torched 36,500 acres (14,770 hectares) and destroyed 82 homes since erupting on Thursday.

Shifting wind patterns remained a concern, but that fire was not expected to grow significantly overnight, a spokesman for Cal Fire said.

In western Nevada, a fire weather watch will be in effect on Wednesday as winds up to 50 miles (80 km) per hour and thunderstorms with lightning are expected in the area.

Elsewhere in the U.S. Southwest, dozens of active fires remained burning, including the 107,900-acre Spring Creek Fire, which is on pace to become the second-largest fire in Colorado’s history, according to the Denver Post newspaper.

“Near critical fire weather conditions are possible across portions of eastern Colorado Tuesday afternoon,” the National Weather Service said in an advisory.

Showers and thunderstorms are also in the forecast for parts of the region through Wednesday, the weather service said, warning of lightning and gusty winds that could create and fan wildfires.

(Reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Milwaukee, editing by Larry King)

Southern California couple find wedding ring in ashes of wildfire

Ishu and Laura Rao, return to the rubble of their home which they lost in a wildfire, to retrieve their wedding ring, in Alameda, California, U.S., in this July 8, 2018 photo obtained from social media. MANDATORY CREDIT. Mike Eliason/Santa Barbara County Fire Department/via REUTERS

(Reuters) – As wildfires destroyed dozens of homes and forced the evacuation of thousands of residents in California, at least one couple had a bit of good news.

Ishu and Laura Rao searched the ashes of their incinerated Santa Barbara County home Sunday and found their prize: Laura’s wedding and engagement rings.

She had taken them off before going to sleep Friday and had no time to retrieve them when the couple escaped the fast-moving blaze Holiday Fire with Ishu’s two daughters, their three dogs and a cat, said Mike Eliason, a spokesman with the Santa Barbara County Fire Department.

The married couple of eight months were escorted back to their property Sunday to hunt for the rings.

A wedding ring belonging to Ishu and Laura Rao, is retrieved from the rubble of their home which they lost in a wildfire, in Alameda, California, U.S., in this July 8, 2018 photo obtained from social media. MANDATORY CREDIT. Mike Eliason/Santa Barbara County Fire Department/via REUTERS

A wedding ring belonging to Ishu and Laura Rao, is retrieved from the rubble of their home which they lost in a wildfire, in Alameda, California, U.S., in this July 8, 2018 photo obtained from social media. MANDATORY CREDIT. Mike Eliason/Santa Barbara County Fire Department/via REUTERS

“Wouldn’t have believe it, but they found them,” Eliason said. They were damaged and charred, but still recognizable.

Ishu Rao then dropped to one knee, put the rings on her finger and proposed all over again. The rings still fit, Eliason said, “And she said yes.”

The fire that destroyed their home was 80 percent contained early Monday, Eliason said. “We’re just mopping up hot-spots now.”

Elsewhere, some firefighters were gaining ground in containing the wildfires in California early Monday. Others just held the lines against the blazes feeding off the dry brush in the California heat, officials said.

Firefighters should get some more good news this week with cooler temperatures, the National Weather Service said. Scorching heat, high winds and low humidity have fanned dozens of fires across the western United States this summer.

The fires had burned more than 2.9 million acres (1.17 million hectares) through Friday, already more than the annual average of about 2.4 million acres over the past 10 years, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

The remains of an unidentified person were found on Friday near a home burned to the ground by the Klamathon Fire, which broke out on Thursday near California’s border with Oregon. It marked the first fatality of the fire season in California.

A firefighter was injured battling the blaze but has since been released from the hospital, authorities said at a news conference on Sunday night.

The Klamathon Fire, which has destroyed 81 structures and blackened about 35,000 acres, was 25 percent contained on Sunday evening, according to Cal Fire. More than 1,500 people have been affected by the flames.

Elsewhere in Northern California, the County Fire has charred more than 90,200 acres in sparsely populated wooded areas of Napa and Yolo Counties.

Some 2,800 firefighters faced with inaccessible terrain, high temperatures and low humidity, were battling the fire, which was 65 percent contained.

(Reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta, Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles, Maria Caspani in New York and Makini Brice in Washington; editing by Larry King)

Some heat relief forecast as California fires rage

Santa Barbara County Firefighter spray water on flames at a home at the site of a wildfire in Goleta, California, U.S., July 6, 2018 in this image released on social media. Mike Eliason/Santa Barbara County Fire/via REUTERS

By Dan Whitcomb

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – California firefighters battling several wildfires that have destroyed dozens of structures and forced thousands of residents to evacuate will get some relief as temperatures cool from scorching levels later this week, the National Weather Service (NWS) said.

“Starting Monday we’re going to see a gradual cool down, as we shave just a few degrees off each day until about midweek it gets to something like normal, in the mid-90s (Fahrenheit) inland and 80s at the coast,” said Jim Hayes of the NWS Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland.

Dozens of blazes have broken out across the western United States, fanned by scorching heat, winds and low humidity in a, particularly intense fire season.

This year’s fires had burned more than 2.9 million acres (1.17 million hectares) through Friday, already more than the annual average of about 2.4 million acres (971,000 hectares)over the past 10 years, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

The remains of an unidentified person were found on Friday near a home burned to the ground by the Klamathon Fire, which broke out on Thursday near California’s border with Oregon. It marked the first fatality of the fire season in California.

A firefighter was injured battling the blaze but has since been released from the hospital, authorities said at a news conference on Sunday night.

The Klamathon Fire, which has destroyed 81 structures and blackened about 35,000 acres (14,160 hectares), was 25 percent contained on Sunday evening, according to Cal Fire. More than 1,500 people have been affected by the flames.

Authorities said steep terrain and erratic winds have made it difficult for firefighters to fight the Klamathon Fire.

Elsewhere in Northern California, the County Fire has charred more than 90,200 acres (36,500 hectares) in sparsely populated wooded areas of Napa and Yolo Counties.

Some 2,800 firefighters faced with inaccessible terrain, high temperatures and low humidity, were battling the fire, which was 65 percent contained.

In Colorado, officials said fire crews had made “much progress” battling the Spring Creek Fire, which broke out on June 27 and has consumed 106,985 acres (43,295 hectares). It was 43 percent contained on Saturday, the officials said.

(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta, Maria Caspani in New York and Makini Brice in Washington; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle and Andrea Ricci)