SACRAMENTO, California (Reuters) - Fifty buildings were destroyed by a 21,500-acre wildfire raging in Northern California that has forced the evacuation of about 3,000 people near the small town of Manton, fire officials said late on Tuesday.
Dubbed the Ponderosa Fire, the lightning-sparked blaze
roared through brush and heavy timber in Tehama and Shasta counties,
about 125 miles north of the state capital Sacramento, since it started
on Saturday.
Firefighters were
finally able to survey the damage from the air in one of the more
heavily populated areas affected, to the southeast of tiny Manton, on
Tuesday.
The structures
destroyed include not only residential houses but also barns and sheds,
but firefighters were not expected to inspect the damage up close and on
foot until Wednesday, Chico Fire Division Chief Shane Lauderdale told Reuters.
"There is a good
chance that number (of destroyed buildings) will go up, because they
haven't been able to get into the whole area affected by the fire," Mike
Witesman, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said.
More than 2,000
fire personnel successfully fought strong winds all day Tuesday to save
the neighboring small town of Shingletown from burning, Lauderdale said.
However, more than 200 residences remain threatened by the blaze burning over steep and rugged rural terrain.
Two firefighters
have suffered minor injuries while fighting the blaze, which officials
said has been 40 percent contained.
The Northern California fire
is among nearly three dozen large conflagrations burning out of control
through the drought-stricken Western states, devouring well over 1
million acres, according to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise.
(Reporting by Mary Slosson; Editing by Bill Trott, Lisa Shumaker and Pravin Char)
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Here is a view of Manton, California from Google Maps Begin quote:
If you click on the city and state below it will take you to a fire map
Manton, CA
The fire is in between Mt. Lassen National Park and Interstate 5 in northern California.
Manton, CA
The fire is in between Mt. Lassen National Park and Interstate 5 in northern California.
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