Hundreds of people have evacuated to escape a wildfire in coastal Southern California and a larger blaze in rural New Mexico as hot weather feeds the flames, raising health concerns in other regions, officials said on Thursday.
Santa Barbara Sheriff Bill Brown told a news conference that his deputies had asked occupants of 400 homes and businesses to evacuate structures in areas threatened by flames from the California fire.
Campers and horses on ranches have also been forced out, officials said.
Photo: AP/Greg Sorber/The Albuquerque Journal
The blaze, which ignited on Wednesday in a wilderness area northwest of Santa Barbara, has consumed chaparral and tall grass in the Los Padres National Forest, blackening about 490 hectares, according to the InciWeb fire information center.
About 500 firefighters were trying to hold it from exploding out of control as airplane tankers and helicopters dropped water, officials said.
“There isn’t a lot of marine layer [ocean humidity], so not great conditions for firefighting,” Diane Black, a joint incident command manager, said in a telephone interview.
Winds drove the so-called Sherpa Fire toward the Pacific coast, leading authorities to evacuate two state beaches and some ranchland, according InciWeb and the Santa Barbara County Web site.
The blaze also approached the 101 Freeway overnight, forcing authorities to close it until on Thursday morning.
In New Mexico, the so-called Dog Head Fire that broke out on Wednesday about 10km northwest of the town of Tajique has forced evacuations and grown to more than 4,900 hectares. Tajique is about 50km southeast of Albuquerque.
New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez declared a state of emergency and activated the state’s National Guard, ordering the unit to be prepared to assist if needed, according to a statement issued by her office.
The fire has burned through timber in central New Mexico, pushing heavy smoke toward cities more than 160km away as flames spread through a largely unpopulated area, fire information officer Peter D’Aquanni said.
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