|
 The so-called Butte Fire, which erupted on Wednesday east of the
city of Jackson, about an hour's drive southeast of the state
capital, Sacramento, grew to 14,700 acres (5,949 hectares)by
Thursday evening, according to the California Department of Forestry
and Fire Protection (Cal Fire).
The blaze was 10 percent contained.
Eight structures and outbuildings have been destroyed and another
1,500 structures were threatened, Cal Fire said.
Several rural communities were under evacuation orders, though it
was not immediately clear how many people were forced to flee their
homes.
The blaze is the latest in a string of large and destructive
wildfires that have ripped through drought-stricken brush and forest
in the U.S. West Coast over the summer.
Dozens of wildfires or clusters of fires were currently burning in
six Western states - California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana
and Utah, according to the National Interagency Fire Center in
Idaho.
The Butte fire showed "rapid, uncontrolled fire growth" on Thursday,
Cal Fire said, with containment efforts slowed by extreme heat, low
humidity and the difficult of stemming the blaze in rocky, rugged
terrain.
[to top of second column] |
More evacuations were anticipated, the agency said.
Meanwhile, the Rough fire, the largest active fire in California,
exploded to more than 110,000 acres on Thursday, forcing the
evacuation of staff and visitors from a large swath of Kings Canyon
National Park east of Fresno, fire officials said.
(Reporting by Victoria Cavaliere in Los Angeles; Editing by Himani
Sarkar)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
