By Elle Grant
What should have been a pleasant Labor Day weekend, a last stretch of summer, has quite literally gone up in flames. Multiple wildfires now burn with increasing force across the state and show no signs of stopping. Three fires have consumed California’s attention this holiday weekend, the Creek Fire, the Valley Fire, and the El Dorado Fire.
The El Dorado fire started during a gender-reveal party, reports say. A “smoke generating pyrotechnic device” used at the party caused the El Dorado Fire in San Bernardino County, Cal Fire said in a press release. The fire started Saturday at 10:23 a.m. at the El Dorado Ranch Park in Yucaipa and spread from the park north on to the park’s ridge. It has since grown to past 7,000 acres as of Monday morning. No charges have yet been made in this particular case and the fire is reportedly only 5% contained.
Evacuations have been ordered for the communities across the area. More than 500 personnel have been deployed to the fire, along with 60 engines and four helicopters. Weather in California is expected to remain hot and dry with a relative humidity of 20%, San Bernardino National Forest said in its evening update on the fire. Winds will also continue at three to five miles per hour with gust up to 10 miles per hour, resulting in “active fire behavior throughout the night.” Such weather will continue to fan the wildfire flames and continue its spread. Temperatures during the day were well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, hampering the efforts of firefighters to stop the flames. While communities have been evacuated, currently no known homes or lives have been taken by the fires.
Governor Gavin Newsom of California has declared a state of emergency in response to the situation, specifically in regard to fires in the High Sierras, trapping campers visiting for the long weekend. It took an incredibly arduous rescue operation by military helicopters to evacuate them from the Mammoth Pool Reservoir area, authorities said. The lack of cellphone reception in the area made rescue efforts even more difficult. While lives were saved, twenty were injured, with two in serious condition from burns including a fourteen-year-old girl.
Residents across the state are preparing to make evacuations from their homes due to the various fires. “It looks like it’s 8:30 at night,” said Carrie Lightfoot said of the darkness from the fire. Ms. Lightfoot is a resident of Bass Lake, an area significantly threatened by the potential spread of the Creek Fire. “You can taste the smoke,” she said. “You can see red coming up the mountain. It just looks like the end of the world.” Other witnesses relayed similar harrowing visuals, including driving through flames to escape and describing their experiences in evacuation helicopters.
As aforementioned, a state of emergency has been declared in California and the California National Guard have been mobilized. The story on current wildfires raging through California continues to develop.
