|
 A firefighting force now numbering 8,000 personnel, the most ever
deployed against a single California wildfire, had carved buffer
lines around 43 percent of the blaze's perimeter as of Thursday
morning, fire command spokesman Mike McMillan said.
That figure was up sharply from the 10 percent containment level
reported at the start of the week, and additional evacuation orders
were lifted late on Wednesday, though 2,000-plus people remained
displaced by the blaze, McMillan said.
The King Fire has charred nearly 150 square miles of drought-parched
timber and brush in two national forests since it erupted on Sept.
13 along the south fork of the American River, southwest of the Lake
Tahoe resort area.
A 37-year-old man accused of starting the fire was arrested last
week on arson charges. He has pleaded not guilty.
The blaze was stoked early on by extremely low humidity, strong,
erratic wind gusts and a heat wave that baked much of California for
more than a week.
A break in the weather days ago brought cooler, moister conditions
and lighter winds that helped firefighters gain ground against the
flames.
A midweek Pacific storm chilled temperatures further and ushered
showers into the region on Thursday, with as much as a half-inch of
rain expected to fall over the fire zone, McMillan said.
"We're making excellent progress and continuing to see the
containment rise every day," he said. "We're going to capitalize on
this wet weather and continue that."
[to top of second column] |
The King Fire has proven costly, with authorities spending an
estimated $1.6 million to date on the blaze.
Twelve homes and nearly 60 outbuildings have been destroyed, and
12,000 dwellings were still listed as threatened. There have been no
fatalities but six people have been reported hurt, all firefighters
with non-life-threatening injuries.
At its peak last week, the King Fire ranked as the most menacing of
nearly a dozen major wildfires across California. While the
statewide fire threat has since subsided, the King still topped a
list of nine large blazes under full-scale attack throughout the
West, according to the National Interagency Fire Center in Idaho.
(Reporting by Steve Gorman; Editing by Jim Loney)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright
2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
