Blaze update
Wildfires threatening to merge
YUCCA VALLEY (AP) — A 53,000-acre wildfire crept through tinder-dry Mojave Desert brush and Joshua trees as of about noon Friday to within a half-mile of another blaze in the San Bernardino National Forest, threatening to merge into an unpredictable wave of flame that could burn its way toward a mountain full of dead trees.
The Sawtooth fire that destroyed more than 150 homes and buildings earlier this week was 20 percent contained but it was burning through dense, dead brush in a desert canyonland that has not burned in recent decades, authorities said at a morning briefing for firefighters.
A half-mile away, the 8,300-acre Millard fire (which is the result of four smaller fires) was burning in the San Gorgonio wilderness, a forest area southwest of the Sawtooth blaze. It posed a threat to about 75 scattered homes and was just 5 percent surrounded.
“The fires are very close together. … it’s likely that will occur today,” fire spokesman Rick Vogt said.
“If they come together, there’s a potential for significant fire behavior,” said Glenn Barley, a spokesman with the California Department of Forestry.
He said large fires can create their own weather patterns.
“It can make for strong, erratic winds,” Barley said.
The main concern is that the huge fire front would leap up ridges and devour thousands of trees killed by drought and bark beetle infestations.
Both fires were sparked by lightning, and a chance of thunderstorms over the weekend brought concern that new blazes might erupt in the parched stretches of the Mojave Desert and foothills, where temperatures this week have hit triple digits.
http://www.vvdailypress.com/2006/115290641742682.html
WILDFIRE MOVES SLOWLY, TURNS AWAY FROM SANTA CLARA CO.
07/14/06 12:00 PDT
Thousands of firefighters overnight pushed back a huge wildfire that had spread to Santa Clara County on Wednesday evening, containing the blaze to about three-quarters of a mile across the county line.
The fire has consumed 28,137 acres and destroyed 10 homes and one outbuilding but is no longer threatening any structures, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman Henry DeKruyff said today.
The blaze, which started in the Del Puerto Canyon west of Patterson near the Frank Raines Regional Park in Stanislaus County on Sunday afternoon, is now moving south about four to six air miles from Henry Coe State Park, the largest state park in Northern California covering 87,000 square miles.
"Now it's looking pretty good on the Santa Clara side," CDF spokesman Chris Morgan said earlier today. "It hasn't reached into Henry Coe State Park at all. It probably won't -- but then again, if we have dramatic winds, all bets are off."
DeKruyff said the fire is moving more slowly and producing less smoke today. The current low wind speeds of 8 mph with gusts up to 16 mph help keep the fire away, he said, though the 20 percent humidity is "not good." Fire crews expect gusts in the canyon to pick up between 2 and 4 p.m. today, when DeKruyff said the forecast is indicating a hot wind pattern.
CDF hopes to have the blaze, now 45 percent contained, under control as of 11 p.m. Saturday, DeKruyff said.
Nine miles of fire lines were built in two days but bulldozers and hand crews still have another 16 double lines to set up to contain the flames, DeKruyff said.
The effort has cost $5.9 million and engaged 2,022 firefighters, four of whom have suffered minor injuries. No injuries to civilians have been reported, DeKruyff said, adding that so far only voluntary evacuations have taken place.
http://cbs5.com/localwire/localfsnews/bcn/2006/07/14/n/HeadlineNews/WILDFIRE-SLOWING/resources_bcn_html