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 The day-old blaze, one of about a dozen major fires raging across
the drought-parched state, prompted authorities to order the
evacuation of about 1,000 households in and around the Northern
California town of Weed, which has a population of about 3,000.
"Weed is a small community, and a lot of people have lost their
homes," said Diane Howard, a clerk for the city.
California's fire season, which runs from May to October, is already
on track to be the most destructive on record, according to state
fire managers. In addition to the 150 homes burned in the fire
raging near Weed, more than 30 were charred in another blaze near
Yosemite.
The so-called Boles Fire near Weed has scorched 375 acres (152
hectares) north of San Francisco near the Oregon border since it
erupted on Monday, and has burned down about 150 residences, said
Cal Fire spokeswoman Alyssa Smith.
The blaze has forced school closures in Weed, where firefighters
managed to save the high school although it is now covered in foam,
said school district official Sarah Jasmer. Officials were also
assessing possible fire damage to the elementary school.
Power outages from the fire, now 25 percent contained, left a school
used as an evacuation shelter without electricity.
The wildfires came as parts of California baked under triple-digit
temperatures and the most populous U.S. state grappled with a
devastating three years of drought, which has dried out brush and
trees, helping fuel the flames.
East of Sacramento, the King Fire raging mainly in heavy timber and
steep terrain in the El Dorado National Forest led officials to call
on about 400 people to evacuate from areas threatened by the blaze,
Smith said. That fire has charred some 12,780 acres (5,172 hectares)
and was 5 percent contained on Tuesday.
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Nearly 2,500 firefighters were deployed against the King Fire, out
of a total force of thousands more battling the dozen blazes burning
statewide, Cal Fire said.
Further south, the Courtney Fire in and around the foothill
community of Oakhurst and near Bass Lake had destroyed 33 homes and
28 outbuildings since it started on Sunday, officials said. The
fire, which was about 50 percent contained, has charred about 320
acres (129 hectares).
In neighboring Oregon, firefighters were dealing with six major
blazes and had ordered evacuations of about 40 homes overnight due
to the so-called 36 Pit Fire outside Portland, which has destroyed
3,600 acres (1,457 hectares), officials said.
(Additional reporting by Courtney Sherwood in Portland, Oregon and
Eric M. Johnson in Seattle; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Eric
Walsh)
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