California officials reported a firefighter has died while battling a blaze in the San Bernardino national forest, as a front of humid and rainy weather brought some relief to western states that have suffered a historically devastating fire season.
The firefighter died on Thursday battling the El Dorado fire, which was sparked by a smoke-generating pyrotechnic device during a gender reveal party earlier this month. The fire has burned more than 21,600 acres and is about 66% contained. It’s one of 27 major fires raging through the state.
The name of the firefighter will be withheld until family members are notified. The cause of the death was under investigation. Cal Fire Capt Bennet Milloy told reporters last week that the family responsible for the fire has been cooperating with officials. The San Bernardino county district attorney has not yet filed charges against the family but they could be held responsible for the death, and the destruction caused by the fire.
“Even though it’s accidental, it could be considered as ‘reckless’,” Milloy said during a press conference last week. “In California if it is deemed ‘reckless’ they could be found criminally liable for burning the wild lands, the homes, the vehicles that were burned. They could be civilly responsible for the suppression costs after the fire,” he added.
In what’s already becoming a historic fire season in the west, wildfires have burned more than 3.4m acres in California this year and are blamed for at least 25 deaths. In the state of Oregon, fires have scorched at least 1.7m acres and left at least eight people dead. In Washington state, the fires claimed the life of one child. Thousands of evacuees, especially in Oregon, remained huddled in emergency shelters, mobile trailers and hotel rooms and several people are still missing.
Oregon’s firefighting force has more than doubled over the past week, with about 6,500 personnel on the fire lines. Even as California faces record-breaking fires of its own, the state has provided emergency support to its northern neighbor, at the request of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema). . Officials report there are also 18,500 firefighters deployed in California.
Rain in Oregon and humid weather in northern California on Friday bolstered hope for further containment of the wildfires, many of which have have raged for weeks due to tinderbox conditions created by high winds, lightning and drought.
Cooler, more favorable weather in the region since last week has already dispelled some of the smoky, polluted air and tempered the flames, enabling ground teams with hand tools and bulldozers to regroup and consolidate their gains while also allowing greater use of water-dropping helicopters and airplane tankers.
Doug Grafe, fire protection chief for Oregon’s forestry department, said on Thursday that storms were expected to bring much-needed rain to the hard-hit western slopes of the Cascade Mountains. Several large fires have been mostly suppressed, he said, allowing the state to shift more resources to 10 major blazes that remain.
He warned, however, that high winds and lightning from those storms could also complicate firefighting efforts, and heavy showers could lead to mudslides.
For some areas ablaze farther south, the weather won’t offer any reprieve. Crews fighting the Snow fire, which erupted near Palm Springs just after midday Thursday, are still facing triple digit temperatures and strong winds. Doubling in size overnight, the fire had burned through more than 2,500 acres by Friday morning and is still 0% contained. The Snow Creek community, roughly 20 homes tucked into the desert foothills west of the city, is under mandatory evacuation orders.
While some progress has been made in battling the major blazes across California, authorities are concerned about the stubborn Bobcat fire that continues to grow, north-east of Los Angeles. On their 13th day of battling the blaze, which has spread across more than 60,550 acres in the Angeles national forest, officials reported that the fire had split into “three heads” and had doubled in size over the last week.
Fueled by winds and dried vegetation, the fire on Thursday evening sparked evacuation warnings for the small forest town of Wrightwood, and had forced evacuations in the community of Juniper Hills earlier in the day. Officials say the fire has flared up in other areas and is again threatening Mount Wilson, site of a historic observatory and an array of broadcast antennas.
Meteorologists are also predicting a shift in the wind this weekend, which could again leave Bay Area communities coated in smoke after only days of clear skies. A Spare the Air alert has been issued throughout the weekend. Smoke has also prompted the closure of Yosemite national park. The park issued a notice that all entrances and roads would close on Thursday evening, and would only reopen when conditions are safe.
Meanwhile, doctors across the region started reporting alarming health effects of the smoke pollution that has clouded the region in recent weeks. In northern California’s Stanford Health Care system, hospital admissions have jumped by 12% in recent weeks, including a stunning 43% jump in cerebrovascular conditions such as strokes. In Oregon, health officials reported nearly one out of 10 people visiting the emergency room had asthma-like conditions due to the smoke. And in San Francisco, doctors had to cancel their clinics for recovering Covid-19 patients, because the air was so unhealthy that just getting to their appointments could make patients more sick.
A growing body of scientific evidence paints a dire picture of the effects of wildfire smoke on the human body. Experts told the Guardian earlier this month that the smoke can have an almost immediate effect on people’s health, causing asthma, heart attacks, kidney problems and even mental health issues to surge. Researchers have also linked the unsafe air to intensified symptoms and higher risks of mortality from Covid-19.
Smoke on Thursday prompted the closure of Yosemite national park. The park issued a notice that all entrances and roads would close on Thursday evening, and would only reopen when conditions are safe.