As firefighters fought to contain a fast-spreading wildfire that flared-up on Friday along the scenic Northern California coast, near Watsonville, the sweltering temperatures that hit the dry wildland area threatened to make the early fire season worse.
The wildfire that spread Friday afternoon in the Santa Cruz County mobilized approximately 600 firefighters who battled the blaze through the night. By Saturday morning, fire officials said the blaze was 90 percent contained.
The wildfire charred 15 structures and an estimated 600 acres. Previous reports that the fire burned more than 1,000 acres might have been overestimates, but more accurate estimates of the damage are soon expected to be released, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection officials said.
At least 2,000 residents have been evacuated from the area, and evacuations are not expected to be lifted for at least another 12 to 36 hours. Residents who needed overnight shelter were being sent to evacuation centers set up by the Red Cross, while helicopters continued to drop water and fire retardants over the raging flames.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation. California fire officials noted however that the lack of humidity, and the high temperatures might have caused a few grass fires that later appeared to have merged into the larger blaze.
The Santa Cruz County fire is the latest one in a series of recent destructive fires that swept through Northern California, prompting growing concern that insufficient budget and lack of resources could dampen the attempts to fight another surge of wildfires.
Experts warned of the wildfire danger after the months of March and April set state records for dryness. The extreme weather conditions prompted Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to declare a state-wide drought emergency in nine California counties.
So far this year, 2,000 wildfires have burned about 25, 000 acres, charring dozens of homes, harming live stock, homeowners and injuring firefighters.
Meanwhile, some of the big fires that started last week, like the Indians fire that has burned more than 50,000 acres of vegetation of Monterey County since June 8 continued to rage. The Indians fire injured nine firefighters and threatened more than 1,300 structures—mostly homes. Investigators believe that a camp fire started the rage that ripped through the Los Padres National Forest.
Last week, U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) pressed top Forest Service and Agriculture Department officials to quickly fill an increasingly large number of firefighter vacancies in California as a string of wildfires hit the state.
"In light of the 13 fires in the last 72 hours in California… with the hot, dry, and windy conditions that led to the 13 major fires in California, I believe the agency should have been able to muster a stronger force," Feinstein wrote in a letter to Chief United States Forest Service, Gail Kimbell.
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