Evacuations remain as new Lake County fire doubles in size

Most of the residents who were told to evacuate were allowed to return to their homes Monday.

Evacuation orders were expanded on Tuesday for residents in Lake County, but the number of people displaced was not known, the agency said.

More than 1,100 firefighters are battling the blaze, w hich is threatening 50 structures.

Meanwhile, firefighters have almost surrounded the larger blaze, the Rocky Fire, that started about two weeks ago and burned 109 square miles.

He points out that houses that are built in areas that are prone to fires, just like those that are built in lands prone to flooding, simply carry a natural risk of being destroyed.

The Forest Service report says climate change has led to fire seasons that are an average of 78 days longer than in 1970.

The older fire continues to burn, remaining at almost 7 square miles and more than halfway contained.

The Wolverine Fire in the northern Cascade mountains of Washington has grown to cover 34,500 acres (13,961 hectares) after gusty winds cropped up overnight, stoking fire activity, according to the InciWeb fire information center.

View of the Willow Fire.

With wildfires scorching vast swaths of the Western United States, it is time to renew calls for Congress to recognize the new normal and alter how it deals with such disasters. Or worse, are the efforts we’re taking right now to combat these wildfires actually doing more harm than good and increasing the odds of even worse fires in the future?

Michael Hallenbeck of Shingle Springs was killed by a falling tree, the Forest Service said on Sunday.

“The incident occurred about 5:30 p.m.in a remote area between the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit and the Eldorado National Forest”, according to a statement from the forest service.

On Sunday, hundreds of people turned out in Rapid City to pay their respects at a procession and memorial service for Ruhl. All evacuations have been lifted. A part of Freeway 270 closed when a pile of timber caught hearth.

In southern Oregon, firefighters have made significant progress on the massive Stouts Creek Fire.

On Monday evening, the fire was moving northeast toward a swath of forest with no homes, Cordova said. The Cabin Fire has burned 5,871 acres and is 96 percent contained.

– In Alaska, the fire season has officially become the second biggest on record.