Wildfire in Southern California triples in size

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Reuters

BY ALEX DOBUZINSKIS

A wildfire in Southern California more than tripled in size overnight and forced officials to close a major highway, while another blaze in New Mexico had communities on edge after destroying two dozen homes, officials said on Friday.

California's so-called Sherpa Fire, burning in chapparal and tall grass, was driven by strong winds as it roared down hillsides toward the Pacific Ocean in a wilderness area northwest of the coastal city of Santa Barbara.

It grew from 1,200 acres (486 hectares) on Thursday night to more than 4,000 acres (1,619 hectares) early Friday, said Kerry Bierman, a spokeswoman for the joint operations center fighting the fire.

Its rapid growth during the night forced officials to close a portion of the 101 Freeway, a major corridor for vacation travelers near California's coast, though officials said they have since reopened the road.

FULL story, more photos, and video at link below.



Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-wildfires-idUSKCN0Z22E3

[niyad]

1. and three major fires in AZ and NM, and a smaller one on Ft. Carson. going to be a very long,

hot summer.

[Warpy]

4. Fire season started a little late here in NM

but seems to be making up for lost time.

I have friends who might need to evacuate if that fire gets much bigger. I smelled a whiff of smoke here in the city yesterday but the winds are more westerly today.

The problem, as always, is that it's in pretty rough terrain and hard for units on the ground to fight. Temperatures will go into the triple digits here over the next few days, June being the hottest month here in the desert.

Monsoon rains can't begin soon enough for me.

[niyad]

5. will hope that they start very soon. worried about all the lush vegetation here with this

very dry heat.

[niyad]

2. according to the fire map, there are 15 large incident fires currently burning in the west

and southwest, with dry, hot conditions through the weekend.

http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us/

[yeoman6987]

3. Besides lives, homes, tress and other vegetation, the worst is what this does to our planet

One fire causes more pollution then a million cars. This is tragic in so many ways.

[Warpy]

7. Yes and no. Western forests are supposed to burn over every few decades

Some of the vegetation requires fire in order to allow their seeds to exit the pods and germinate. Fire out west is not a bad thing, it has to happen.

Fire also gets rid of deadfall and other easy to burn fuel. A good fire is one that sticks to the forest floor and burns off all the trash and brush and allows room for new growth.

The bad fires are when too much has built up and the fire travels up to the crowns of the trees. These are the ones that spread quickly and destroy everything. Years of fire suppression has contributed to the number and intensity of crown fires we've seen in recent decades. The forests are sick, crowded with thick underbrush and deadfall.

Controlled burns are helping but they've also gotten out of control from time to time when weather has changed suddenly.

[yeoman6987]

8. Thank you. That makes me feel better about the fires (at least first part of post)

Hopefully we can get a handle on the "crown fires". I imagine some professional are thinking ways to assist.

[Judi Lynn]

6. So sad. Thanks for the info. n/t