Jamesburg where one of the fires started friends of ours live so this is concerning to us being so far away from home where we cannot easily find out if they are all right. This is a very remote place out in Carmel Valley on the way to the Tassajara Buddhist Monastery.
New wildfire in Northern California kills 1; damage mounts
| Sacramento Bee | - |
A
new wildfire in Northern California has killed one person and destroyed
or damaged 10 homes in Monterey County, a week after two other blazes
killed five people and destroyed at least 1,400 homes, fire officials
said Sunday.
1 killed in Tassajara Fire burning in Monterey County
Updated 5:51 pm, Sunday, September 20, 2015
Nehemiah White, right, and Selena Craine of Lake County Animal Care and Control lead a pony and quarter horse found roaming Thursday Sept. 17, 2015 in Anderson Springs, Calif. They were assisted by Cal Fire crew from Riverside. The Valley fire that sped through Middletown and other parts of rural Lake County, less than 100 miles north of San Francisco, has continued to burn since Saturday despite a massive firefighting effort. (Paul Kitagaki Jr./The Sacramento Bee via AP) MAGS OUT; LOCAL TELEVISION OUT (KCRA3, KXTV10, KOVR13, KUVS19, KMAZ31, KTXL40); MANDATORY CREDIT (REV-SHARE) (ONLN OUT; IONLN OUT - MBI)
Brush
and oak trees flare up as firefighters work to contain a blaze that
burns along Highway 68 east of Laureles Grade in rural Salinas, Calif.,
Saturday, Sept. 19, 2015. (David Royal/The Monterey County Herald via
AP)
The Tassajara Fire, burning a little more than 2 miles north of Jamesburg, grew to 1,200 acres on Sunday and was 10 percent contained after one civilian died, officials with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said. No other injuries were reported.
The deceased person, who was not identified, was found near the source of the fire, said Sgt. David Murray with the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office. The death was being investigated as suspicious, and no other details were available, authorities said.
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Mandatory evacuations were ordered for residents along Tassajara Road from Carmel Valley Road to Cachagua Road as smoke billowed into the air east of Big Sur. Evacuation advisories were issued for all other residents in the communities of Cachagua and Jamesburg.
Evacuation shelter
An evacuation shelter was set up at Carmel Middle School while 590 firefighters attacked the fire. Five air tankers and two helicopters helped battle the blaze from above. The cause of the fire was under investigation.
About 25 minutes after the Tassajara Fire started Saturday, the Laureles Fire ignited 20 miles to the north. No injuries were reported in the 95-acre blaze that was 95 percent contained Sunday.
Nearly 10,500 firefighters are battling 10 large blazes around drought-parched California. Fire season showed few signs of letting up as a hot September gives way to a hotter-than-average October, according to scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
There is a 97 percent chance this year will be the hottest on record, according to a report released last week by NOAA scientists.
In Lake County, the Valley Fire was 75,100 acres and 53 percent contained Sunday morning as residents began returning into the evacuation area for the first time since the inferno rushed through the communities around Middletown.
For many, there was nothing to return to. At least 888 structures, including nearly 600 homes, were burned to ash in the blaze, officials said.
At least three people were killed and four firefighters were badly burned when the fire exploded on the afternoon of Sept 12.
Retired teacher Barbara McWilliams, 72, was trapped in her Cobb home when the fire rushed through. Leonard Neft, 69, a former newspaper reporter, presumably tried to make a run for it but died near where his car was found consumed by flames, officials said.
Bruce Beven Burns, 65, was living in a trailer at a metal recycling yard and was probably sleeping when the fire raced through the area, his family said. Search crews found a body last week believed to be his.
2 others missing
At least two other people are unaccounted for.
In Amador and Calaveras counties, the 70,760-acre Butte Fire was 70 percent contained after it leveled 535 homes and 347 outbuildings and killed two people.
All mandatory evacuations were lifted for the Butte Fire early Sunday, and thousands returned to their homes. The Valley Fire and Butte Fire are the sixth- and seventh-most-destructive fires in the state’s history, respectively, Cal Fire spokesman Daniel Berlant said.
Evan Sernoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky
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