Yahoo Finance Two firefighters on life support as wildfires ravage California with 100,000 evacuated
Around 100,000 people have been evacuated after wildfires, believed to be sparked by two powerlines making contact, ravaged across Orange County, southern California.
Wind-driven walls of flames blowing over dry drought-parched brush in the canyons and foothills left two firefighters injured as they approach the city of Irvine.
Two firefighters aged 26 and 31, have been injured critically with both second- and third-degree burns across more than 50 per cent of their bodies, according to the Orange County Fire Authority. They are currently being intubated.
About 5,000 firefighters are currently battling wildfires across the state.
The only damaged home reported by firefighters so far is a mansion with a Trump 2020 banner in its front garden.
It looks to have its roof completely destroyed by the blaze but firefighters were able to save the others in the Yorba Linda neighbourhood.
Flames damage large home at the end of Blue Ridge Dr. in #YorbaLinda but crews were able to save dozens of others as #BlueRidgeFire continues to rage out of control. pic.twitter.com/V2vwASOq1Q
— Leanne Suter (@abc7leanne)
Fires have scorched more than 6,400 square miles since the start of the year, with thousands of homes destroyed and 31 lives lost.
The winds are pushing flames in the Silverado fire closer to houses in the city of Irvine, home to around 280,000 people.
Power shut-offs have affected hundreds of thousands more people and are used to counter heightened fire risks from dry and gusty weather.
Utility company Southern California Edison said its equipment is under investigation as a possible source of a blaze that erupted early Monday and spread across 7,200 acres of California's Orange County by late afternoon.
Southern California Edison submitted an initial electric safety incident report to the California Public Utilities Commission on Monday, a spokesman said.
"It appears that a lashing wire attached to a telecommunications line may have contacted SCE's power line above it, possibly starting the fire," he said.
The cause of the fire will be probed by the Orange Country Fire Authority.
#SilveradoFire:
•7200 acres
•500 firefighters
•0% Containment #BlueRidgeFire:
•3000 acres
•0% Containment
•Almost 200 firefighters
•One home damaged
If you’re not registered for emergency notices from the County, please do so @ https://t.co/IdrIheWtVK.— OCFA PIO (@OCFA_PIO)
The latest outbreak of fires cap a summer of record California wildfire activity stoked by increasingly frequent and prolonged bouts of extreme heat, drought, wind and dry lightning storms that scientists point to as a consequence of climate change.
Wind-damaged electrical lines have been implicated in causing dozens of devastating California wildfires in recent years, and utilities have increasingly resorted to such "public safety power shutoffs" to reduce the risk.
Wind gusts were clocked at up to 89 mph in Sonoma County wine country north of San Francisco Bay, and were steadily blowing at more than 50 mph elsewhere through the region.
The Silverado Fire and the Blue Ridge blaze combined have so far blackened well over a quarter-million acres.
Additional reporting by Reuters.