Fire crews gain ground against Northern California blaze

Hundreds of people driven from their homes by a massive Northern California wildfire are anxious to check on their pets and possessions, but for now are stuck camping in cars and trailers, drinking coffee from Styrofoam cups and hoping their houses have not been reduced to ash.

Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry tells KGVO-AM (http://bit.ly/1DxaSMG ) that investigators believe a transient is responsible for the fire that started Wednesday in the small northwestern town of Evergreen.

The containment level for the blaze, a measure of how much of its perimeter has been firmly enclosed within fire breaks hacked through unburned vegetation by firefighters, rose to 40 percent on Thursday – double what it was two days earlier. It is the largest of 23 fires statewide and has drawn almost a third of the 10,000 firefighters dispatched to blazes in drought-stricken California.

The National Interagency Fire Center in Idaho has listed the fire as the nation’s highest priority for crews and equipment.

Volunteer firefighter Jeff Brusatori was battling the Fork Complex fires – a set of quite a few wildfires in Northern California east of Eureka – when he discovered the flames have been headed towards his neighborhood late final week. “Once the other cats come home, she’ll come out”, he said.

“A history of high temperatures, low humidity, changing winds and poor overnight recovery continue to contribute to the future possibility of significant fire activity”, Cal Fire said.

The Rocky fire is one of 19 wildfires burning in California. About 17,200 people are fighting those fires, but resources are not tapped out yet, center spokeswoman Robyn Broyles said.

Here’s how CoreLogic scores possible damage for homes in the three counties on the front lines of the Rocky Fire. Brown visited the fire lines of the 70-thousand acre Rocky Fire in Northern California today.

In Humboldt County, more than 70 blazes sparked by lighting had consumed 7 square miles and incinerated six outbuildings.

“It’s not a game of politics, it’s an existential threat to our well being and our way of life”, he said.

At the fire camp Wednesday, freshly returned firefighters sat at long tables, telling jokes and digging into bowls of fruit, corned beef hash and fried eggs. Nearby were large white mobile sleepers that could fit 45 tired firefighters.

“It’s tiring work, no doubt about it. But most of these guys are in really great shape, and they thrive in this environment”, said Hugo Patino, Modesto Fire Department battalion chief.

Fire crews – with the help of a firebreak cleared by her husband – saved the summer home in Lower Lake of Nicole Ruff, who twice fled separate fires in the past week with her family.

“All of it is gone, it’s so surreal”, Layna Rivas said through tears in a phone interview just after she discovered her home in Clearlake Oaks had burned to the ground.