Fire Fighting News Three Dead 15000 Acres Scorched as a Fire in Tennessee Continues to Burn
More than a thousand Southern California firefighters and multiple aircraft worked Sunday to battle the Apple Fire near Beaumont, which had spread to more than 20,000 acres, sent smoke drifting to Arizona and continued to threaten thousands of homes in Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
The massive blaze, which began Friday evening as two smaller fires that eventually merged, continued to grow — fed by low humidity, a slight breeze, thick vegetation and triple-digit temperatures.
By midday Sunday, the Apple Fire had scorched 20,516 acres — more than 32 square miles — destroyed three structures and was 0% contained. About 1,360 firefighters and multiple aircraft were battling the blaze and dropping water and fire retardant from the air. Earlier Sunday, some official reports had said the fire was 12% contained, though Cal Fire Capt. Fernando Herrera confirmed there has never been any containment.
About 7,800 people from 2,600 residences had been ordered to evacuate. No injuries had been reported as of midday Sunday.
Cause under investigation
The leading edge of smoke from the fire has pushed as far as the city of Globe, Ariz., roughly 400 miles away, according to the National Weather Service's Phoenix office. The main body of smoke was visible across south-central and southwest regions of the state.
Fire officials said a cause remains under investigation.
Herrera said the fire was burning on two sides. The western edge was in the Forest Falls area in San Bernardino County, while the eastern flank was headed toward the Morongo Band of Mission Indians' reservation in Riverside County.
On Sunday morning, a portion of the reservation was under an evacuation order, while other sections fell under a warning. Morongo Casino Resort & Spa, located slightly to the south, was not affected by evacuation notices.
Herrera said that from Saturday night into Sunday, firefighters, with the help of bulldozers and hand crews, built fire lines in anticipation of continued aerial attacks.
"It is steep terrain, rugged terrain," he said. "Access is limited. We can't really get to it on foot. We rely a lot on the aircraft to do the work during the day."
Eye-level northwesterly winds up to 10 mph were forecast in the fire area Sunday night; these winds are closest to the ground and most likely to affect the fire's behavior. Overnight, those winds were forecast to drop to 3 to 5 mph, said James Brotherton, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in San Diego.
Westerly winds forecast for Monday will be more concerning, Brotherton said. Daytime winds on Monday are slated to be around 10 mph but could get up to 25 mph around the ridges, the higher elevations in the fire area. By Monday night, those winds could pick up to 30 mph.
"The nearby ridges, we are always concerned about how strong those winds are because they could affect the fire area," he said.
If the wind pushes the fire east toward the San Gorgonio pass – even at just 10 to 15 mph – that could change the outlook of the fire, because the pass already is a natural wind tunnel.
Air Tanker makes drops; power shut off to homes
Officials brought in the Very Large Air Tanker on Saturday, which along with a number of other air tankers were used to target the northwest corner of the fire. The VLAT, as it is called, is capable of dropping roughly 10,000 gallons of fire retardant at a time.
The Apple Fire began shortly before 5 p.m. Friday in the 9000 block of Oak Glen Road in Cherry Valley, which is a few miles north of Beaumont, Cal Fire said.
At the request of the fire department, Southern California Edison turned off electricity along Oak Glen Road and the surrounding side streets to prevent additional fires from breaking out as burned power poles collapsed and dropped transmission lines.
The practice is known as a "public safety power shutoff."
The western edge of the fire near the Forest Falls area of San Bernardino County is full of heavy vegetation, according to Herrera. The eastern side also has heavy vegetation, but thins and becomes rocky and grassy closer to the unincorporated community of Whitewater.
Around 1:30 p.m. Sunday, CalFire/Riverside County firefighters responded to a vegetation fire at the Whitewater Preserve near Whitewater Canyon Road. No injuries or evacuations were reported immediately. The fire, initially reported at five acres, quickly grew to 100 acres. The Riverside County Sheriff's Department was on scene, helping to evacuate people at the Whitewater Preserve.
More than 130 firefighters were dispatched to the Whitewater fire, which was dubbed the Water Fire. Several helicopters and air tankers were also assigned to the blaze.
The only structures lost have been a single-family home and two outbuildings near Avenida Miravilla in Cherry Valley, officials said Saturday. Herrera said an assessment team would be looking for any other damaged structures where the fire had burned.
"It's so hot and it's so intense in some of these areas that haven't been mopped up that it's hard to get in to make an assessment," he said.
Evacuations during a pandemic
Mandatory evacuations were ordered for Cherry Valley residents north of Dutton Street, east of Oak Glen Road and south of County Line Road, according to the Riverside County Emergency Management Department.
Those living north of Gilman Street in the Banning Bluff area and north of Cherry Valley Boulevard, west of Highland Springs Avenue and east of Beaumont Avenue, were also ordered to evacuate, Herrera said.
Residents of the west Potato Canyon area to Raywood Flat in Oak Glen were under an evacuation warning, while residents in the Banning area who live north of Wilson Street, east of Sunset Avenue and west of Hathaway Street were under mandatory evacuation orders, officials said.
Around 3 p.m. Sunday, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Office warned residents of the Pioneer Town area they could be ordered to evacuate.
An evacuation warning means mandatory evacuation orders could come with "little or no notice," officials said.
Residents of the unincorporated communities of Oak Glen and Forest Falls were under voluntary evacuation orders as of 5 p.m. Saturday.
By 6:30 p.m. Saturday, an evacuation warning was issued for residents north of Morongo Road, east of Millard Canyon Road and west of Whitewater Canyon Road.
This particular area is north of the Interstate 10 and Highway 111 interchange on the western edge of the Coachella Valley, in the unincorporated community of Whitewater.
An evacuation center was set up at Beaumont High School, 39139 Cherry Valley Blvd., in Beaumont. The blaze was threatening 2,586 homes and affecting as many as 7,800 residents, according to figures released Saturday night.
Cherry Valley man: 'I was terrified'
Among those who had to flee suddenly were Rick and Rose Stewart, who live on Avenida Miravilla in Cherry Valley. Rose Stewart, 65, was home with her three granddaughters, ages 1, 4 and 8, when flames appeared in the canyon surrounding their home.
"Boy, the wind picked up and it moved," she said. "At that moment, I was worried about the girls because they were really scared. They were like 'I want to go home, I want to go home.'"
Their father soon arrived to pick them up. The canyon filled with flames and the heat destroyed a palm tree and fruits and vegetables in their backyard garden, including lemons, tomatoes and squash. To Rose Stewart's surprise, a zucchini survived.
As flames approached, Rick Stewart, 67, hosed down his home from his backyard.
He soon turned the hose onto himself as fled his yard as the fire moved his way.
"I was terrified. You have no idea the amount of heat that came off that. Literally burning your face," he said.
Stewart said he and his son joined firefighters who had gathered in a clearing near the home. Rose Stewart left, but Rick Stewart was determined to watch his home if it had to burn down.
The home survived; the Stewarts attribute that to a fire break they installed around their home as a precaution following years of surviving fires in the area.
Evacuees sent to local hotels
Officials said that they were mindful of protecting evacuees from the coronavirus pandemic. As a result, the evacuation center was being used as more of a check-in point rather than an actual shelter.
On Friday night, 31 people checked in and seven families were placed into hotel rooms to the west of Beaumont and Banning, in the Moreno Valley and Redlands areas, according to John Medina, shelter supervisor with the American Red Cross.
Banning resident Martin Yedwalsky and his family spent the night at a Redlands Super 8 motel after evacuating Saturday afternoon. He would have preferred staying home, but decided to flee out of concern for his 89-year-old father who is in a wheelchair and can't get up and leave at the last minute.
"I'm mostly worried about my dad," Yedwalsky, 50, said outside Beaumont High School Sunday morning where he inquired about resources being provided by the American Red Cross.
They were joined by Yedwalsky's 20- and 18-year-old sons, whom he praised for calmly evacuating. They spent the night watching a Los Angeles Lakers game, but Yedwalsky's elderly father made it clear he wanted to return home as they watched the fire burn from afar.
"You could see the actual fire from Redlands. That's 25 miles away," Yedwalsky said. "I'm worried, but what can you do? I got my loved ones with me. Everything else can be replaced."
Ryan and Amber Westbrook were evacuated from their ranch on a ridge in the Banning Bench region Sunday morning. They fled to Ryan's father's home on a ridge a half-mile directly to the west, separated by Banning Water Canyon.
From the father's driveway, they watched flames burn their property and hoped firefighters remained safe.
"On the one hand, I want them to save my place. But sincerely, if it gets ugly, I want them to get out of there," said Ryan Westbrook, 48.
Amber Westbrook, 43, said the fire's "burning in like five places" and both agreed they were having a rollercoaster experience because things would seem calm one moment, but fearful the next due to the fire's unpredictable behavior.
"Our house, [firefighters] saved it twice already," Ryan Westbrook said. As of 2 p.m. Sunday, they believed their home was intact because the trees near their house weren't burning.
"We know which trees would have to burn for our house to burn down," Ryan Westbrook said.
Most evacuees who checked in to the evacuation center on Friday, Medina said, had to check out of the hotel in the morning and check back in at the evacuation center in order to secure a room for an additional night.
Due to the Apple Fire, forest officials announced Saturday evening that they had closed the San Gorgonio Wilderness, a roughly 96,000-acre area north of the fire. Also, the Pacific Crest Trail, a route popular with hikers, was closed between the forest boundary and Onyx Summit.
Source: https://www.vvdailypress.com/story/news/2020/08/02/apple-fire-20500-acres-scorched-7800-ordered-to-evacuate/112793428/
0 Response to "Fire Fighting News Three Dead 15000 Acres Scorched as a Fire in Tennessee Continues to Burn"
Post a Comment