{"id":31992,"date":"2024-09-09T01:47:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-09T06:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=31992"},"modified":"2024-09-09T02:35:29","modified_gmt":"2024-09-09T07:35:29","slug":"lightning-could-worsen-wildfire-east-of-l-a-already-threatening-35000-homes-and-buildings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=31992","title":{"rendered":"Lightning could worsen wildfire east of L.A. already threatening 35,000 homes and buildings"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

HIGHLAND, Calif. \u2014 An out-of-control wildfire in the foothills of a national forest east of Los Angeles threatened tens of thousands of buildings and forced hundreds of residents to flee Sunday amid a dayslong heat wave of triple-digit temperatures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The so-called Line Fire<\/a> was burning along the edge of the San Bernardino National Forest, about 65 miles east of Los Angeles. As of Sunday morning, the blaze had charred about 27 square miles of grass and chaparral, leaving a thick cloud of dark smoke blanketing the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fire burned so hot Saturday that it created its own thunderstorm-like weather systems of pyroculumus clouds, which could bring more challenging conditions such as gusty winds and lightning strikes, according to the National Weather Service<\/a>. Firefighters also faced steep terrain, which limited their ability to control the blaze, officials said. The fire remained uncontained Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

County officials, who declared an emergency Saturday evening, issued evacuation orders for Running Springs, Arrowbear Lake, areas east of Highway 330 and other regions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Running Springs resident Steven Michael King said he had planned to stay to fight the fire and help his neighbors until Sunday morning, when the fire escalated. He had prepped his house to prevent fire damage but decided to leave out of fear smoke could keep him from finding a way out later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt came down to, which is worse, being trapped or being in a shelter?\u201d he said outside an evacuation center Sunday. \u201cWhen conditions changed, I had to make a quick decision, just a couple of packs and it all fits in a shopping cart.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arrowbear Lake resident Michael Lee said he left his home with his dog Saturday afternoon. Lee, a photographer, had turned back to retrieve a camera and didn\u2019t get to the evacuation center in Highland until nearly seven hours later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wanna get back to home,\u201d Lee said sitting in his car outside the evacuation center. \u201cThe triple-digit weather down here is nasty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

State firefighters<\/a> said three firefighters had been injured and more than 35,000 structures were threatened, including single and multi-family homes and commercial buildings. Thunderstorms expected later in the day could make it even more challenging to rein in the fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAfternoon thunderstorms could cause new ignitions and potentially influence activity around the fire perimeter,\u201d state firefighters said in a Sunday morning update. \u201cHot and dry conditions mixed with thunderstorms are expected to challenge firefighters for the next few days.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The affected area is near small mountain towns in the San Bernardino National Forest where Southern California residents ski in the winter and mountain bike in the summer. Running Springs is on the route to the popular ski resort town of Big Bear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joe Franco, a worker at Noah\u2019s Restaurant in the downtown section of San Bernardino, said his friends in the surrounding evacuation zones were gearing up to leave at a moment\u2019s notice. Smoke from the fire had already blanketed downtown San Bernardino, Franco said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey\u2019re just kind of hanging on tight and getting their stuff ready to move,\u201d Franco said of his friends. “Normally they\u2019re here, but a lot of people are not coming today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fire prompted Redlands Unified School District to cancel Monday classes for roughly 20,000 students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gov. Gavin Newsom proclaimed a state of emergency for San Bernardino County Saturday night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A small vegetation fire that started Sunday afternoon in Clearlake City, 110 miles north of San Francisco, was forcing roughly 4,000 people to evacuate and burning structures. Officials said at least 30 homes and commercial buildings were on fire. Firefighters said they were gaining ground against the blaze Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More firefighters were expected to arrive in San Bernardino County Sunday. State officials said vegetation is critically dry in the area and temperatures reached more than 100 degrees on Saturday, with relative humidity ideal for the fire to spread. The blaze began Thursday evening, and the cause is under investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than 600 firefighters were battling the fire, supported by water-dropping helicopters that hovered over homes and hillsides, along with other aircraft, according to state firefighters. Cal Fire officials didn\u2019t return calls on Sunday seeking more information about three injured firefighters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fire produced coiling clouds of dense smoke, and flames could be seen cresting hillside ridges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No homes or other structures had been damaged or destroyed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The National Weather Service said downtown Los Angeles hit a high of 112 degrees Fahrenheit on Friday, which marked the third time since 1877 that a temperature that high has been reached there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

nbcnews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HIGHLAND, Calif. \u2014 An out-of-control wildfire in the foothills of a national forest east of Los Angeles threatened tens of thousands of buildings and forced hundreds of residents to flee Sunday amid a dayslong heat wave of triple-digit temperatures. The so-called Line Fire was burning along the edge of the San Bernardino National Forest, about 65 miles […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":31993,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1154],"tags":[23228,29911,8158],"class_list":["post-31992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending","tag-intensification","tag-lightning","tag-wildfires"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31992"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31992\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31994,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31992\/revisions\/31994"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/31993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}