Fire burning near Oregon border forces more evacuations, grows to 71,700 acres

 

                   

VIDEO: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-california-wildfire-evacuations-20140903-story.html

 

 

By Joseph Serna

latimes.com

 

 

Happy Camp Complex fire grows 8 square miles overnight, forces additional evacuations

                                                          

                            

A wildfire burning along the California-Oregon border grew by 8 square miles overnight Tuesday to become the largest in the state, prompting new evacuation orders, the U.S. Forest Service said.

 

The Happy Camp Complex fire remains just 15% contained and has burned more than 71,700 acres in the Klamath National Forest since it was ignited by a lightning strike Aug. 11. A thunderstorm that day pummeled the region with lightning strikes and ignited 17 fires; all but three have been extinguished.

    

            

The Happy Camp Complex fire perimeter as of Sept. 3 (U.S. Forest Service)

    

The blaze grew more than 5,000 acres overnight, overtaking the July Complex fire, which is 78% contained after burning roughly 40,000 acres. 

 

The advancing flames forced Siskiyou County communities north of Highway 96 between Scott River Road and Seiad Creek Road to evacuate. Strong winds on Wednesday are expected to push the flames west to the Hamburg and Scott Bar communities, officials said.

 

A system of warm, dry air over the area that triggered a red flag warning through Wednesday night will likely lead to “large growth” of the blaze, the U.S. Forest Service warned.

            

The fire so far has cost an estimated $41 million, with more than 2,700 firefighters assigned to the blaze.

 

Over the Labor Day weekend, about 170 new wildfires were started, but all were extinguished before they could grow into significant incidents, said Daniel Berlant, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

 

Though crews are battling fewer large blazes than they were just a couple of months ago, officials caution that forest lands are still dangerously dry just as California enters what has typically been the worst time for wildfires.

 

“Historically, September and October are the months where we see the largest and most damaging wildfires, and conditions this year still remain critically dry,” Berlant said during a weekly update of fire conditions.

 

The red flag conditions up north could “bring some additional challenges,” he added.

 

 

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Wildfire near California-Oregon border 'extreme,' firefighters say

 

 

Wed Sep 3, 2014 5:56pm GMT

 

 

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Sept 3 (Reuters) - Firefighters battling a fast-moving Northern California blaze said Wednesday they expect a second day of extreme conditions, as heat and high winds spur a lightning-sparked wildfire near the Oregon border.

      

 

The so-called Happy Camp Fire has been burning in the Klamath National Forest since Aug. 11, consuming 72,000 acres and costing an estimated $41 million so far in firefighting costs.

      

 

"Yesterday, we had an increase in extreme fire behavior ... and we do expect the same extreme fire today, said Paul Gibbs, a fire spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service.

      

 

Tuesday night, the Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office expanded an evacuation order for communities threatened by the blaze, and closed a portion of State Highway 96.

      

 

Previous evacuation orders had included about 250 homes, but neither Gibbs nor a spokeswoman for the sheriff's department had an estimate for the number of homes in the evacuation area as of mid-morning Wednesday.

      

 

The fire had slowed under cooler weather due to a temperature inversion over the Labor Day holiday, but flipped into extreme conditions on Tuesday as clouds cleared and winds picked up, Gibbs said, leading the fire to produce new burn spots a full two miles ahead of the main blaze.

      

 

"It's like opening up a damper on a fireplace," he said. So far, no buildings have been damaged by the fire. Eight firefighters have been injured battling the blaze.

      

 

More than 2700 personnel from 77 fire crews have helped to battle the blaze, originally a complex of 17 fires, Gibbs said.

      

 

The fire was 15 percent contained on Wednesday morning, and full containment was not expected until Sept. 20, he said.  (Reporting by Sharon Bernstein; Editing by Bernard Orr)

 

California wildfire creeps within 2 miles of homes

By   - Associated Press

Wednesday, September 3, 2014  

 

 

HAPPY CAMP, Calif. (AP) - A wildfire surged up to the edge of a forest community in far Northern California, but there were no reports of damage or destruction to the hundreds of homes under threat.

 

“It made a pretty significant run,” fire information officer Dave Schmitt said late Tuesday, with spot fires of more than 20 acres north of the Klamath River near the community of Hamburg putting homes in serious danger.

 

Some 250 homes were under mandatory evacuation orders, with nearly 750 threatened, Schmitt said.

 

The blaze remained two miles away much of Tuesday, but a late afternoon emergence of low humidity and gusty winds in the Klamath National Forest brought renewed fire activity. Both the conditions and the stronger fire are expected to persist well into Wednesday.

 

 

 

The blaze had burned through 100 square miles and containment efforts were in early stages.

 

“We saw these conditions a few days ago, but the fire was much farther away from the communities. Now it’s much closer,” fire information officer Paul Gibbs said. “If it does that again, then you might have potential to reach these communities.”

 

The fire is among a number of lightning-sparked blazes that began in the area in mid-August. The others are either contained or nearly contained.