Nearly 6,000 firefighters were trying to contain a dozen wildfires in California Tuesday, including a fast-spreading fire east of Sacramento and a fire near Mount Shasta that left ashy skeletons of houses and a church in its wake, reports USA Today.
A top-level federal management team had assumed command of the King Fire in El Dorado County, Calif., indicating the level of concern and potential for loss of homes and life, after the fire’s breadth jumped to 11,570 acres.
The Type 1 incident management team took over at 6 a.m. Pacific time, bringing with it additional resources and expertise not always available to local firefighters.
The King Fire is 18 square miles, and is burning in a canyon of the south fork of the American River, northeast of the community of Pollock Pines. It’s considered 5% contained. The fire itself rose from 3,900 acres on Monday morning to 8,600 Monday night, and then to its current size overnight Tuesday. Authorities report trouble fighting the fire because the steep terrain makes it hard for firefighters, helicopters and airplanes to attack it.
Some 1,555 firefighters are deployed on the fire, which has forced school closures and evacuations of nearby homes, and firefighters fear increasing winds and high temperatures later this week.
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