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 More than 3,800 firefighters battled to stop the march of the King
Fire, the largest and most dangerous of 11 major wildfires raging
across California, but had managed to cut containment lines around
just 10 percent of the flames, officials said.
The blaze raced across some 43,000 acres of forest late on Wednesday
and had burned more than 73,000 acres of state land in the El Dorado
National Forest northeast of Sacramento.
No buildings have been destroyed since the blaze erupted on
Saturday, but the California Department of Forestry and Fire
Protection said about 2,800 people had been evacuated from the area
and 12,000 homes and 9,000 other structures remained under threat.
Fire officials said a break in the heat wave that has baked much of
California for a week, higher humidity and cloud cover helped
firefighters make progress.
Officials cautioned, however, that forecasts of high temperatures
and low humidity on Friday or Saturday could fan the blaze into a
more active state.
Prosecutors in El Dorado county charged a man with arson on Thursday
in connection with the King Fire, saying in a criminal complaint
that he "willfully and maliciously" set ablaze forest land in the
area.
Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency late on Wednesday
in response to the King Fire and a blaze farther north, putting all
state resources at the disposal of his Office of Emergency Services.
This year's California fire season, which traditionally runs from
May to October, is on track to be the most destructive on record,
state officials say. The most populous U.S. state is suffering
through a devastating three years of drought, which has dried out
brush and trees, helping fuel the flames.
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In the El Dorado National Forest, a popular destination for outdoors
enthusiasts, numerous campgrounds and Highway 50 were closed, and
two shelters were opened for residents forced to flee their homes.
Two firefighters suffered injuries that were not life-threatening,
said Cal Fire spokeswoman Lannette Rangel.
The fire was burning largely unchecked in steep canyon terrain along
the south fork of the American River and Silver Creek, north of the
community of Pollock Pines.
Crews halted the advance of another fire hundreds of miles to the
north in the Cascade range on Tuesday, but not before 150 buildings
were lost in the town of Weed near Mount Shasta and the Oregon
border.
Police said two churches and a sawmill were among buildings damaged
or destroyed in the historic logging town of 3,000 people.
(Additional reporting by Daniel Wallis in Denver and Curtis Skinner
in San Francisco; Editing by Cynthia Johnston, Will Dunham, Sandra
Maler and Clarence Fernandez)
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