Dry thunderstorms forecast for most of central California yesterday could hamper firefighters' efforts to contain massive wildfires burning by the coast and in the Sierra foothills, officials said.
Hot temperatures also were expected to bedevil firefighters in other Western states coping with fast-moving fires.
Cooler temperatures and lighter winds allowed crews to make significant progress on taming a 14,164-hectare fire in California's Inyo National Forest on Monday. The state's largest blaze, sparked by lightning on Friday, was 71 percent contained by evening, after destroying six homes and closing down trails into a popular wilderness area north of Mount Whitney.
On Sunday, the fire temporarily forced 200 residents of Independence to leave their homes and closed down a long stretch of highway. Eleven firefighters suffered minor injuries, US Forest Service spokeswoman Pam Bierce said.
Along the coast, firefighters lost some ground in the Los Padres National Forest as flames chewed through brittle brush and trees unburned in four decades.
The 3,845-hectare fire, which was 30 percent contained, threatened more than 20 unoccupied cabins in Zaca Lake Retreat and the historic Manzana Schoolhouse. Officials did not order evacuations, but flames that came as close to a quarter-mile to a mineral spring lake forced the resort to cancel camping reservations at the height of the tourist season.
In Nevada, firefighters battled another day of triple digit temperatures, choking smoke and difficult terrain on Monday as they challenged lightning-sparked wildland fires that blackened more than 635km2 across northern Nevada but spared dozens of homes.
Wildfires kept Kitt Peak National Observatory in southern Arizona closed on Monday and three small communities in the northern part of the state remained under evacuation orders as gusty winds and hot weather hampered firefighters' efforts. At least nine fires larger than 40 hectares were burning across the state, although most were in remote areas and not affecting people.
In central Utah, meanwhile, firefighters were able to contain 10 percent of a 1,212km2 blaze thanks to low winds and increased resources. So far the fire, burning about 193km south of Salt Lake City, has raced through 121,408 hectares of extremely dry sagebrush, cheat grass and pinion juniper.
A southwestern Colorado wildfire believed to have been caused by lightning destroyed a house and blackened 618 hectares in southwest Colorado, but no injuries were reported, firefighters said on Monday. The fire was about 50 percent contained on Monday.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
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