Wildfires

MAPUTO, Mozambique (AP) — Officials say at least 89 people have died in wildfires sweeping through Mozambique, South Africa and Swaziland. The Mozambique government says that 49 people have died in central Mozambique and the toll may rise further. The fires claimed more than 40 lives in South Africa and Swaziland. Mozambique government spokesman Lucas Chomera says that the fires, which started amid high temperatures last week and have been fanned by strong winds, have destroyed four schools and left 3,000 people homeless. Vast swathes of farmland have been destroyed, and livestock killed.

Wildfires

SACRAMENTO — Faced with hundreds of big, hard-to-control blazes, California is struggling with what could be its most expensive firefighting season ever, burning through $285 million in the last six weeks alone and up to $13 million a day. With the worst of the fire season still ahead, lawmakers are scrambling to find a way to pay for it all and are considering slapping homeowners with a disaster surcharge that asks those in fire-prone areas to pay the most. Since mid-May, 2,096 wildfires have burned more than 1.3 million acres and destroyed 306 homes. The crisis comes as California also deals with a $15.2 billion budget deficit.

Wildfire Budget Blown

The U.S. Forest Service has spent almost all of its $1.2 billion firefighting budget for the year and will have to take money from non-emergency programs for road and campground repair and renovation, The Oregonian reports. The newspaper quotes Hank Kashdan, the service's deputy chief of business operations, as saying the tab for the year could reach $1.6 billion. To make up the deficit, the service is taking $30 million earmarked for reducing flammable tinder in forests, according to a letter to field offices from Forest Service Chief Abigail Kimbell. The newspaper says intense early-season fires in California consumed firefighting money quickly.

Wildfires

DENVER — Lawmakers warned Tuesday that it's only a question of time before a major wildfire strikes Colorado's beetle-ravaged trees on the Western Slope and they said the state isn't prepared. State forestry officials said less than half the communities in the state are prepared for a major wildfire after pine beetles destroyed 1.5 million acres of lodgepole pine. They said spruce beetles and other insect infestations have left hundreds of thousands of residents at risk for losing their lives and homes. Kallam said the federal government has the ability to begin disaster preparations at the first hint a hurricane will strike, but there is no similar program to react in advance to the threat of a major wildfire. Rick Cables, regional forester for the U.S. Forest Service, said efforts are being focused on treating trees near urban areas to limit the potential damage.

Wildfires Increasing

MARIPOSA, Calif. — Visitors to Yosemite National Park weighed whether to cut their vacations short Tuesday as a destructive wildfire raging miles from the famed wilderness threatened thousands of homes and left evacuees stranded. Authorities said late Monday the blaze tearing through a steep, dry river canyon had destroyed 25 homes, more than double the number reported earlier in the day. The fire has forced the evacuation of about 300 homes in the nearby towns of Midpines and Coulterville and is endangering as many as 4,000 others. More than 46 square miles of mostly wilderness terrain have burned since a target shooter sparked the wildfire on Friday. The fire was 10% contained Monday night as it burned about 12 miles from Yosemite National Park, which remained open.

• JJ Commentary: This year continues the trend of increasing wildfire damage, with the average acreage burned for the last five years (4,464,408 acres) almost double the preceding five years (2,592,000 acres), another end-times sign.

Unprecedented California Wildfires

Scorching heat and whipping winds kept stoking wildfires across California on Wednesday, forcing thousands of people to flee their homes and spewing smoke into already polluted skies.From Santa Barbara County to the Oregon border, 323 fires continued to rage, down from a peak of 1,781. The fires, which began in June, have burned 675,631 acres, a figure that threatens to topple a record set in 1936, when 756,696 acres burned during the entire fire season."This is definitely unprecedented to have this many fires this early in the season," said Daniel Berlant, spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, known as CAL FIRE.

Wildfire Update

Californians will continue fighting off hundreds of wildfires over the holiday weekend, with 31 miles along Highway 1 already evacuated and hot, dry weather setting the stage for even more fires. Mandatory evacuations were issued for most of the 850 residents in the scenic coastal community of Big Sur on Wednesday when an out-of-control wildfire jumped a fire line, threatening more homes. The blaze had destroyed 16 homes and charred about 82 square miles of forest since it was started by lightning on June 21 in the Los Padres National Forest. It was about 3% contained Wednesday. Drought, heat and lightning storms have contributed to more than 1,100 fires that have blackened 680 square miles of land statewide in the past two weeks. The blazes have destroyed 60 homes and other buildings while threatening thousands more.

Hell-Fires Burn in California

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — Weary crews battling blazes across northern and central California soon will get some help from the National Guard, the first time the troops have been called to ground-based firefighting duty since 1977. Already this year, drought conditions, high temperatures and a series of lightning storms have contributed to more than 680 square miles being scorched statewide. Federal fire managers predict an increase in severe wildfire activity in northern California through October due to unusually hot, dry weather and scant rain. The fires have created a smoky haze so stifling that some doctors in the San Joaquin Valley say their waiting rooms have been crowding with patients struggling to breathe.

Wildfires Grow

SAN FRANCISCO — The unprecedented number and size of wildfires burning in California this year has forced firefighters to strategically choose which ones to tackle.Their plan is this: Crews are dispatched to protect communities in the path of flames, while blazes are allowed to chew through acres of forest land.Officials say the tactic is necessary in a fire season that already has seen hot weather, rough terrain and lightning storms complicate efforts to bring blazes under control.

What is extraordinary this year is the number of fires burning at the same time, Kirchner said. The weekend of June 21 saw some 1,200 fires burning -- a figure Forest Service officials said appeared to be an all-time record in California.

• JJ Commentary: Wildfires are another sign of the end-times and increasing tribulation.
  

Wildfires

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A fast-moving fire erupted Friday along the Northern California coast, burning homes, forcing hundreds of residents to flee and backing up traffic for miles on a scenic highway. A number of homes were destroyed, but there was no indication how many. Multiple grass fires appeared to have merged into the larger blaze. In southeastern New Mexico, firefighters were trying to corral a lightning-caused blaze that had scorched 64 square miles of desert grass, shrubs and cacti in the Guadalupe Mountain foothills. Thunderstorms sparked as many as 75 wildfires in a wilderness area in far Northern California on Saturday. Those fires range in size from less than an acre to more than 750 acres. None immediately threatened homes.

Wildfires

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Smoke from a massive wildfire in eastern North Carolina is so intense that officials are warning residents in the northeastern part of the state to limit their time outdoors. State Division of Air Quality director Keith Overcash said Friday that air-quality monitors are reporting "some of the highest levels of particle pollution we have ever recorded." The division issued a Code Purple on Friday for all areas east of Interstate 95 and north of U.S. 70. The Code Purple is the most severe air pollution warning the state has ever issued. It advises the elderly, children and those with some health problems to avoid all outdoor physical activity. Firefighters will pump 6 million gallons an hour from two lakes to saturate the huge wildfire in eastern North Carolina that has burned for more than two weeks in peat soil in and around a national wildlife refuge.

Wildfires

COLUMBIA, N.C. (AP) — A wildfire that has burned nearly 31,000 acres in eastern North Carolina may smolder for months as it burns decayed vegetation that makes up the soil in the area, a state official said Saturday. The fire, about 40% contained, continues to burn in the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, about 70 miles south of Norfolk, Va. The spread of the fire across more than 48 square miles slowed over the past few days. Winds remain light, but it continues to threaten about 80 homes and businesses. No injuries or structure damage have been reported. North Carolina Forest Service spokesman Bill Swartley warned that temperatures near 100 degrees this weekend would keep conditions ripe for the blaze.

Drought & Fires in Florida

Drought-stricken Florida continued to burn over the weekend as crews battled fires from Everglades National Park to the exposed lake bed of mammoth Lake Okeechobee. With Florida experiencing a drought that has enveloped the entire Southeast, state fire crews were battling 90 active fires Sunday that have burned nearly 40,000 acres, according to the state Division of Forestry. A separate fire in the Everglades, which is administered and maintained by federal officials, had burned through 21,000 acres and was only 20% contained by Sunday night. The combination of the blazes closed roads and highways in Florida and has destroyed 40 buildings and damaged another 60 around the state.

Wildfire Danger Increasing

With wildfire danger in Arizona increasing because of higher temperatures and lower humidity, the state's land managers have begun the first major public land restrictions this year. Restrictions on the nearly 3-million-acre Tonto National Forest in central Arizona went into effect Thursday, and the 120,000 acres of Maricopa County's ten-park system will be under a fire ban starting Monday. Phoenix mountain parks also banned open fires starting Monday. R.J. Cardin, director of Maricopa County Parks and Recreation, said the fire bans in county parks are going into effect a couple weeks earlier than last year, citing the wet winter that produced tall grasses that are now dry.

Campfire and smoking restrictions go into effect on the Prescott National Forest beginning Wednesday, May 14, at 8 a.m. Forest managers determined that key trigger points have been reached to warrant taking restrictive actions. Trigger points include increased forest visitor use, abandoned campfires, high winds and rising temperatures. The following fire restrictions will be in effect for the entire Prescott National Forest:

• Campfires, charcoal grills, and stove fires of wood, charcoal, and coal are prohibited on all Forest lands, roads, and trails; except within developed recreation sites where grills and campfire rings are provided. Pressurized liquid or gas stoves, lanterns and heaters meeting safety specifications are allowed.

• Smoking is prohibited except within enclosed vehicles, buildings, or developed recreation sites where the area is cleared of all flammable material.

• Campfires are not allowed at the designated dispersed sites within the Prescott Basin. Metal posts identify designated dispersed sites with a number.

• Campfire and smoking restrictions will remain in effect until forest officials determine that conditions have changed sufficiently to reduce the risk of human-caused wildfire. Violation of these prohibitions is punishable by a fine of not more than $5,000, imprisonment of not more than six months, or both. The public is reminded that fireworks are always prohibited on all national forest lands.

For current information on fire restrictions, closures or wildfires on the Prescott National Forest, call (928) 777-5799. For further information about fire restrictions on public lands in Arizona and New Mexico, call toll free 1-877-864-6985 or visit http://gacc.nifc.gov/swcc/.

Nationally, the wildfire season is well underway, with total acreage burned (1,370,160 acres) nearly double the 10-year average (791,759). Wildfires in central Florida have forced hundreds of residents to evacuate their homes. Officials say high winds, dry conditions and high temperatures are expected to fuel the flames Monday. The fires have burned thousands of acres. Daytona Beach spokeswoman Susan Cerbone (ser-BOHN') says about 500 homes there have been evacuated. Hundreds more homes in neighboring Brevard County are also under evacuation because of the smoke and flames.