California Fires Out of Control

More than 500,000 people have fled from California abandoning homes, in search of safety from the blazing fires. By Tuesday, more than 400 square miles in seven counties had been consumed by 16 fires. These fires were fueled by high desert winds and hot temperatures. San Diego County remained the worst of the burning regions, with at least 1,250 homes destroyed. President Bush has responded to entreaties from Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and declared California to be in a state of emergency, paving the way for federal disaster aid to arrive. Officials said that firefighters were stretched thin and that the lack of resources was as much a burden as the temperatures and winds. Tuesday evening, Gov. Schwarzenegger ordered state prisons to send their fire fighters to assist in fire fighting, including 6 fire engines and 18 fire captains. The state’s corrections department also has more than 2,640 trained inmate firefighters actively battling the southern California wildfires. Firefighters in many areas were no match for the flames and had to seek refuge in aluminum fire shelters. Air attacks were made difficult due to strong winds. A survey conducted by the California Farm Bureau Federation found that avocado and citrus groves, nurseries, vineyards, rangeland, and other farm and ranch operations were possibly damaged, with thousands of horses evacuated to shelters and livestock also possibly caught in the fires’ paths.

August 12th 1981, fires raged in Nevada, Idaho, NO. California, and So. Oregon. Four of the ten fires blackened 21,000 acres in California but were contained. Although it was not the largest of the California fires, a blaze burning out of control near Wright's Lake in El Dorado County was considered the most serious.