California fire department reports first wildfire death of 2024 season – FOX21 News Colorado

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Mendocino County officials said they found human remains in a building burned in a fire that broke out Monday.

The coroner is working to identify the body, but it could be that of a 66-year-old woman whose family had reported her missing.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CalFire) said the remains were found in Mendocino County in northern California.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS. The previous AP story follows below.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A wildfire that authorities say was fanned by high winds has prompted the evacuation of residents on Arizona’s San Carlos Apache Reservation, while authorities in western states warned of a rising wildfire risk amid a sustained heat wave this week that dried out the landscape, set temperature records and put lives in danger.

At least nine homes on the reservation about two hours east of Phoenix were destroyed by the blaze known as the Watch Fire, but no injuries or deaths were reported, said Robyn Broyles, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

As of Friday, the fire was 0% contained, she said. Nearly 5.2 square kilometers have burned so far in an area of ​​the reserve covered by dense bushes and poplars.

Officials said the fire broke out on Thursday afternoon and spread to the downtown area of ​​the reservation, which is home to about 10,200 people, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Meanwhile, California’s top fire official said this week that the state has been called out to more than 3,500 wildfires so far this year, ravaging a total of nearly 330 square miles – five times the average wildfire area through July 10 in each of the past five years.

“We are not just in a fire season, we are in a fire year,” Joe Tyler, director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said at a news conference. “Our winds and the recent heat wave have exacerbated the problem and destroyed thousands of acres of land, so we have to be extra cautious.”

Amid sweltering heat and single-digit humidity, California emergency crews battled numerous wildfires Thursday, including a stubborn 53-square-mile blaze that prompted evacuation orders for about 200 homes in the mountains of Santa Barbara County northwest of Los Angeles. The blaze was 16 percent contained.

California’s fires began in earnest in early June, after two consecutive wet winters lifted the state out of drought but produced abundant grass that has since dried out. A lightning strike in June ignited some of the fires, a danger that could resurface with thunderstorms in the Sierra Nevada this weekend, meteorologists said.

In Oregon, firefighters continued to battle the Larch Creek Fire on Thursday, which had expanded to at least 17 square miles of grassland since Tuesday. Lower temperatures and easing winds aided their efforts, but local fire danger remained extreme. One firefighter was treated for heat-related injuries.

In Oregon and Washington, authorities have imposed fire bans and other restrictions to prevent sparks. Campfires, the use of chainsaws and target shooting are prohibited in most areas. In Central Oregon, the use of chainsaws and lawn mowing are limited to certain hours, followed by a one-hour fire watch.

In Hawaii, Haleakala National Park on Maui was closed as firefighters battled a blaze on the mountain’s slopes. Visitors who drove up in more than 150 vehicles on Wednesday to see the famous sunset were unable to drive down until around 4 a.m. Thursday because firefighters had blocked the narrow roads.

None of the homes were under immediate threat, but some residents were told to prepare for possible evacuations. Wind speeds of 40 mph (64 kph) were a concern for firefighters, said Chris Stankis, spokesman for the Maui Fire Department. “The winds are a little stronger than our typical trade winds,” he said.

The fire is several miles from an area where 26 buildings burned in Maui’s deadly wind-driven wildfires last August. “But residents who lost their homes are scared,” said Yuki Lei Sugimura, who represents the area on the Maui County Council. “It’s like PTSD.”

Meteorologists said Thursday that the heat would ease somewhat by the weekend.

More than 51 million people in the United States remained under a heat warning on Friday, a significant decrease from earlier in the week.

The U.S. heat wave came as global temperatures hit a record high for the 13th month in a row in June and were 1.5 degrees Celsius warmer than pre-industrial times for the 12th month in a row, according to Europe’s Copernicus climate service. Most of that heat trapped by human-caused climate change comes from long-term warming from greenhouse gases released when coal, oil and natural gas are burned, scientists say.

___

Yamat reported from Las Vegas. Associated Press journalists Jennifer Kelleher in Honolulu, Tran Nguyen in Sacramento, California, John Antczak in Los Angeles, Anita Snow in Phoenix, Martha Bellisle in Seattle and Bruce Shipkowski in Toms River, New Jersey, contributed to this report.