California

TexasTowelie

(112,252 posts) Tue Aug 16, 2016, 02:10 AM Aug 2016

Fire roars into California town, wiping out 100-plus homes

LOWER LAKE, Calif. — A wind-whipped wildfire roared through a Northern California town threatened by a devastating blaze a year ago, wiping out more than 100 homes and businesses and forcing thousands of people to flee, authorities said Monday.

The fire seemed calm Sunday before gusts kicked up the flames that tore through neighborhoods in Lower Lake, a rural town about 90 miles north of San Francisco, officials said. No one was injured, but it reached Main Street and burned the post office, a winery, an antiques store, a historic firehouse and the Habitat for Humanity office.

“This fire roared through the city like a wave of water — it was a wave of fire that came through here,” said Lt. Doug Pittman, a Marin County sheriff’s spokesman working on behalf of the forestry department.

The blaze was one of 11 large wildfires in the state, where high temperatures and parched conditions brought on by a five-year drought raised the fire danger.

Read more: http://www.thonline.com/news/national_world/article_2f71342e-2265-5624-a0c9-f7c0a4bc80a7.html

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Fire roars into California town, wiping out 100-plus homes (Original Post) TexasTowelie Aug 2016 OP

It looks like they've arrested an arsonist. What a sick thing to do, start wildfires uppityperson Aug 2016 #1

Reuters link nitpicker Aug 2016 #2

uppityperson

(115,677 posts)

1. It looks like they've arrested an arsonist. What a sick thing to do, start wildfires

Reply to TexasTowelie (Original post)

Tue Aug 16, 2016, 02:24 AM

Aug 2016

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-lake-county-fires-20160815-snap-story.html

nitpicker

(7,153 posts)

2. Reuters link

Reply to uppityperson (Reply #1)

Tue Aug 16, 2016, 05:45 AM

Aug 2016

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-california-fire-idUSKCN10R0AL

U.S. | Tue Aug 16, 2016 5:07am EDT

Man arrested for arson related to destructive California fire

By Stephen Lam | MIDDLETOWN, Calif.

A man was arrested on Monday on suspicion of arson, officials said, over a wildfire in Northern California that has destroyed more than 175 homes and businesses and forced hundreds of residents to flee. The conflagration is one of two dozen major wildfires across the drought-parched U.S. West that have all together charred nearly 300,000 acres (120,000 hectares).

Damin Pashilk, 40, faces 17 counts of arson over the so-called Clayton Fire, in the foothill community of Lower Lake, and other fires nearby over the past year, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) said. "Mr. Pashilk committed a horrific crime and we will seek prosecution to the fullest extent of the law," Cal Fire Chief Ken Pimlott said in a statement.

The fire, burning some 80 miles (130 km) north of San Francisco, was driven by fierce winds after sparking on Saturday evening. It threatens 1,500 structures besides the more than 175 destroyed, Cal Fire said on Monday. There were no reports of casualties, however.

The Clayton fire, which had blackened about 4,000 acres (1,600 hectares) by late Monday afternoon, was about 5 percent contained, fire officials said.
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