2 people found dead from out-of-control California wildfires
Two bodies were found inside a burned-out car on the road to a major wildfire near California’s border with Oregon, authorities said Monday, as thick smoke limited deployment efforts. plane to put out the fire at the weekend.
Since its outbreak on Friday, the fast-burning McKinney fire has forced at least 2,000 residents to evacuate while destroying homes and critical infrastructure, mainly in Siskiyou County, home to the Klamath National Forest , according to a statement from Governor Gavin Newsom on Sunday. .
Two other fires in the county forced at least 200 residents from their homes, it said. Those fires had grown to more than 690 hectares as of Sunday, the US Forest Service said.
Already the largest fire in California this year, the blaze has burned 21,245 hectares and no area is considered preventable, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, said. in an update Sunday night.
The Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office said two bodies were found Sunday in a car parked in the driveway of a residential area west of the Klamath River, the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. on Monday. It said it would have no further information on deaths pending identification and notification of relatives.
More than two decades of drought and rising temperatures, exacerbated by climate change, have made California more vulnerable to wildfires than ever before. The two most devastating years on record are in 2020 and 2021 based on acres burned.
Thick smoke above the fire area helped limit the growth of the McKinney Fire on Sunday, but it was also the ground plane used to fight the blaze, the US Forest Service said in the statement. mine.
Newsom declared a state of emergency for Siskiyou County on Sunday. The declaration will help residents access federal aid and unlock state resources.
One of those forced to evacuate was 81-year-old Harlene Althea Schwander, an artist who moved to the area a month ago to be near her son and daughter-in-law.
“I’m very sad. My house is gone, all furniture, clothes, shoes, coats, boots. Everything is gone,” Schwander told Reuters on Sunday outside an evacuation shelter. of the American Red Cross in Weed town, about 60 years old. km south of McKinney Fire.
This is the second major wildfire to break out in California this season. The Oak Fire near Yosemite National Park is 67% contained after it burned more than 7,787 hectares, Cal Fire said on its website.