California Wildfires 2014: Blaze That Started Saturday Expected to Continue Burning During Heat Wave
A heat wave in California has made the job harder for firefighters battling ongoing wildfires in the southern part of the state.
On Saturday, firefighters faced triple-digit temperatures in addition to a fire that has burned 2.5 square miles of forest and forced people to flee from 30 homes near Southern California's Cleveland National Forest, The Associated Press reported.
The battle is far from over.
Only 10 percent of the fire was contained on Saturday, and hundreds of firefighters continue to fight the blaze amid forecasts of temperatures as high as 105 degrees until Tuesday.
The fire was first reported Friday morning, and though none of the homes were burned, the evacuation was in effect as a precaution.
More than 700 firefighters, along with six helicopters and five fixed-wing aircrafts, were battling the blaze.
"The fire is making a couple of uphill runs on us," Orange County fire Capt. Mike Petro told AP. "We know that the numbers we have will probably go up. We don't know exactly how much."
There is no estimate of how big the fire will get before it is brought under control, but the firefighters are facing a hard battle with heat and smoke advisories in effect in the area.
There has been some relief with light winds, but three firefighters have still suffered minor injuries.
About 90 to 100 homes in the area were without power Saturday, and authorities had opened several cooling centers for people needed to escape the heat.
While the fire in the south was being fought, another wildfire in the northern part of the state was reported at about 2 p.m. Saturday, according to AP.
The blaze was reported in the Sierra Nevada foothills, about halfway between Sacramento and Reno, and grew to 250 acres, destroying two homes and three outbuildings, Daniel Berlant, spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said.
By evening, the fire was 20 percent contained and evacuations were called off.
The state has suffered several large wildfires in the last few months, amid a hot summer and droughts in the region.
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