Calif. launches drone to combat Yosemite wildfire

GROVELAND, Calif. Firefighters battling the giant wildfire burning in the Sierra Nevada added a California National Guard Predator drone to their arsenal Wednesday to give them almost immediate views of any portion of the flames chewing through rugged forests in and around Yosemite National Park.

The MQ-1 unmanned aircraft being remotely piloted hundreds of miles away quickly alerted fire bosses to a new flare-up they otherwise wouldn't have immediately seen.

"They're piping what they're seeing directly to the incident commander, and he's seeing it in real time over a computer network," said National Guard Lt. Col. Tom Keegan.

Previously ground commanders relied on helicopters that needed to refuel every two hours.

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The 12-day-old Rim Fire continued to grow, expanding to 300 square miles, and containment remained at 30 percent, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. But increasingly confident fire officials said they expect to fully surround it in three weeks, although it will burn for much longer than that.

"It's looking better every day," said incident spokesman Glen Stratton.

While unmanned aircraft have mapped past fires, use of the Predator will be the longest sustained mission by a drone in California to broadcast information to firefighters in real time.

The plane, the size of a small Cessna, will remain over the burn zone for up to 22 hours at a time, allowing fire commanders to monitor fire activity, determine the fire's direction of movement, the extent of containment and confirm new fires ignited by lightning or flying embers.

The drone is being flown by the 163rd Wing of the California National Guard at March Air Reserve Base in Riverside and is operating from Victorville Airport, both in Southern California. It generally flew over unpopulated areas on its 300-mile flight to the Rim Fire. Outside the fire area it will be escorted by a manned aircraft.

Officials were careful to point out the images are being used only to aid in the effort to contain the fire.

In 2009 a NASA Predator equipped with an infrared imaging sensor helped the U.S. Forest Service assess damage from a fire in Angeles National Forest. In 2008, a drone capable of detecting hot spots helped firefighters assess movement of a series of wildfires stretching from Southern California's Lake Arrowhead to San Diego.

The Rim Fire started Aug. 17 and quickly exploded in size, becoming one of the 10 largest California wildfires on record. Its progression slowed earlier this week when it moved from parts of the forest with thick underbrush that had not burned in nearly a century to areas that had seen fire in the past two decades.

But it will burn for months, possibly until California's dry season ends this fall.

"My prediction is it will burn until we see rain," said Hugh Safford, a regional ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service.

That means the smoke could continue to foul air north of Yosemite in the Lake Tahoe basin and neighboring Nevada, although residents received something of a reprieve Wednesday when for the first time in three days blue sky was sometimes visible through the haze.

The air quality index in the Reno area still had improved only to the "unhealthy" level and in Douglas County, Nev., school children were kept indoors again when the index registered in the "hazardous" category Wednesday morning.

The air was clear, however, in the tourist mecca of Yosemite Valley, home to the towering Half Dome and El Capitan rock formations and the 2,425-foot plunge of Yosemite Falls.

The Rim Fire has destroyed 111 structures, including 11 homes, and posed a threat to ancient giant sequoias.

The fire also has threatened San Francisco's water supply at the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, but Stratton said it was burning itself out as it approached and that crews were lighting back burns to push it back into the wilderness.

The dangerous blaze is bad for business, too, particularly during the Labor Day holiday weekend. CBS San Francisco reports that Yosemite National Park typically brings about 90,000 for the holiday weekend, but park officials estimate the fire could cut that down by about 20 percent.

Tori Moss, who owns a vacation home in the area, says Labor Day weekend is her busiest time of year. But she said cancellations could translate into a $20,000 loss.

"We've had about 20 cancellations, and we might have complete cancellation by the end of the week," she said.

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Calif. launches drone to combat Yosemite wildfire

GROVELAND, Calif. Firefighters battling the giant wildfire burning in the Sierra Nevada added a California National Guard Predator drone to their arsenal Wednesday to give them almost immediate views of any portion of the flames chewing through rugged forests in and around Yosemite National Park.

The MQ-1 unmanned aircraft being remotely piloted hundreds of miles away quickly alerted fire bosses to a new flare-up they otherwise wouldn't have immediately seen.

"They're piping what they're seeing directly to the incident commander, and he's seeing it in real time over a computer network," said National Guard Lt. Col. Tom Keegan.

Previously ground commanders relied on helicopters that needed to refuel every two hours.

Play Video

Play Video

38 Photos

The 12-day-old Rim Fire continued to grow, expanding to 300 square miles, and containment remained at 30 percent, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. But increasingly confident fire officials said they expect to fully surround it in three weeks, although it will burn for much longer than that.

"It's looking better every day," said incident spokesman Glen Stratton.

While unmanned aircraft have mapped past fires, use of the Predator will be the longest sustained mission by a drone in California to broadcast information to firefighters in real time.

The plane, the size of a small Cessna, will remain over the burn zone for up to 22 hours at a time, allowing fire commanders to monitor fire activity, determine the fire's direction of movement, the extent of containment and confirm new fires ignited by lightning or flying embers.

The drone is being flown by the 163rd Wing of the California National Guard at March Air Reserve Base in Riverside and is operating from Victorville Airport, both in Southern California. It generally flew over unpopulated areas on its 300-mile flight to the Rim Fire. Outside the fire area it will be escorted by a manned aircraft.

Officials were careful to point out the images are being used only to aid in the effort to contain the fire.

In 2009 a NASA Predator equipped with an infrared imaging sensor helped the U.S. Forest Service assess damage from a fire in Angeles National Forest. In 2008, a drone capable of detecting hot spots helped firefighters assess movement of a series of wildfires stretching from Southern California's Lake Arrowhead to San Diego.

The Rim Fire started Aug. 17 and quickly exploded in size, becoming one of the 10 largest California wildfires on record. Its progression slowed earlier this week when it moved from parts of the forest with thick underbrush that had not burned in nearly a century to areas that had seen fire in the past two decades.

But it will burn for months, possibly until California's dry season ends this fall.

"My prediction is it will burn until we see rain," said Hugh Safford, a regional ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service.

That means the smoke could continue to foul air north of Yosemite in the Lake Tahoe basin and neighboring Nevada, although residents received something of a reprieve Wednesday when for the first time in three days blue sky was sometimes visible through the haze.

The air quality index in the Reno area still had improved only to the "unhealthy" level and in Douglas County, Nev., school children were kept indoors again when the index registered in the "hazardous" category Wednesday morning.

The air was clear, however, in the tourist mecca of Yosemite Valley, home to the towering Half Dome and El Capitan rock formations and the 2,425-foot plunge of Yosemite Falls.

The Rim Fire has destroyed 111 structures, including 11 homes, and posed a threat to ancient giant sequoias.

The fire also has threatened San Francisco's water supply at the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, but Stratton said it was burning itself out as it approached and that crews were lighting back burns to push it back into the wilderness.

The dangerous blaze is bad for business, too, particularly during the Labor Day holiday weekend. CBS San Francisco reports that Yosemite National Park typically brings about 90,000 for the holiday weekend, but park officials estimate the fire could cut that down by about 20 percent.

Tori Moss, who owns a vacation home in the area, says Labor Day weekend is her busiest time of year. But she said cancellations could translate into a $20,000 loss.

"We've had about 20 cancellations, and we might have complete cancellation by the end of the week," she said.

View the original article here

Progress reported battling huge wildfire at Yosemite

TUOLUMNE CITY, Calif. Crews are finally gaining ground on a massive wildfire burning near Yosemite National Park, with fire officials expressing optimism and containment jumping to 20 percent -- even as the blaze grew larger.

Flames lapped at the edge of the main reservoir that supplies San Francisco, but fears that the Rim Fire could disrupt water or power to the city diminished.

"It looks great out there. No concerns," Glen Stratton, an operations section chief on the blaze, said of the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir.

Nearly 3,700 firefighters battled the roughly 252-square-mile fire, the biggest wildfire on record in California's Sierra Nevada.

The U.S. Forest Service said the fire was threatening about 4,500 structures and had destroyed at least 23, including 4 homes, reports CBS Sacramento, Calif. station KOVR.

Weather conditions forecast for Wednesday may bring challenges in the morning as heavy smoke settles low to the ground, limiting visibility, but higher humidity was expected in the afternoon, which could help dampen the flames, said Matt Mehle, a National Weather Service meteorologist assigned to the fire.

Crews remained confident they could protect hydroelectric transmission lines and other utility facilities at the reservoir, the chief source of San Francisco's famously pure drinking water.

"I don't foresee any problems," Stratton said.

27 Photos

Utility officials monitored the basin's clarity and used a massive new $4.6 billion gravity-operated pipeline system to move water quickly to reservoirs closer to the city.

So far, the ash that has been raining onto the reservoir has not sunk as far as the intake valves, which are about halfway down the 300-foot O'Shaughnessy Dam. Utility officials said the ash is non-toxic but that the city will begin filtering water for customers if problems are detected.

Power generation there was shut down last week so firefighters would not be imperiled by live wires. San Francisco is buying replacement power from other sources to run City Hall and municipal buildings.

It has been at least 17 years since fire ravaged the northernmost stretch of Yosemite that now is under siege.

Park officials cleared brush and set sprinklers on two groves of giant sequoias that were less than 10 miles away from the fire's front lines, said park spokesman Scott Gediman. While sequoias have a chemical in their bark to help them resist fire, they can be damaged when flames move through slowly with such intense heat.

The fire has swept through steep Sierra Nevada river canyons and stands of thick oak and pine, closing in on Tuolumne City and other mountain communities. It has confounded ground crews with its 300-foot walls of flame and the way it has jumped from treetop to treetop.

Crews spent Monday bulldozing firebreaks to protect Tuolumne City, several miles from the fire's edge.

Stratton said they would continue working to burn vegetation in the fire's path to slow its march toward town. He said that, while the community remains in harm's way, "I'm pretty optimistic."

Hundreds of locals packed a Sonora, Calif. church with concern etched on their faces, wanting to know where the fire is and where it was going, says KOVR. "Is it gonna come down?" asked Jan Colombani. "I think it's a real possibility and I wanna know the truth."

Meanwhile, biologists with the Forest Service are studying the effect of the wildlife. Much of the area that has burned is part of the state's winter-range deer habitat. Biologist Crispin Holland said most of the large deer herds would still be well above the fire danger.

Biologists discovered stranded Western pond turtles on national forest land near the edge of Yosemite. Their marshy meadow had burned, and the surviving creatures were huddled in the middle of the expanse in what little water remained.

"We're hoping to deliver some water to those turtles," Holland said. "We might also drag some brush in to give them cover."

Wildlife officials were also trying to monitor at least four bald eagle nests in the fire-stricken area.

While it has put a stop to some backcountry hiking, the fire has not threatened the Yosemite Valley, where such sights as the Half Dome and El Capitan rock formations and Yosemite Falls draw throngs of tourists. Most of the park remained open to visitors.

Rugged terrain, strong winds and bone-dry conditions have hampered firefighters' efforts to contain the blaze, which began Aug. 17. The cause has not been determined.

View the original article here

Progress reported battling huge wildfire at Yosemite

TUOLUMNE CITY, Calif. Crews are finally gaining ground on a massive wildfire burning near Yosemite National Park, with fire officials expressing optimism and containment jumping to 20 percent -- even as the blaze grew larger.

Flames lapped at the edge of the main reservoir that supplies San Francisco, but fears that the Rim Fire could disrupt water or power to the city diminished.

"It looks great out there. No concerns," Glen Stratton, an operations section chief on the blaze, said of the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir.

Nearly 3,700 firefighters battled the roughly 252-square-mile fire, the biggest wildfire on record in California's Sierra Nevada.

The U.S. Forest Service said the fire was threatening about 4,500 structures and had destroyed at least 23, including 4 homes, reports CBS Sacramento, Calif. station KOVR.

Weather conditions forecast for Wednesday may bring challenges in the morning as heavy smoke settles low to the ground, limiting visibility, but higher humidity was expected in the afternoon, which could help dampen the flames, said Matt Mehle, a National Weather Service meteorologist assigned to the fire.

Crews remained confident they could protect hydroelectric transmission lines and other utility facilities at the reservoir, the chief source of San Francisco's famously pure drinking water.

"I don't foresee any problems," Stratton said.

27 Photos

Utility officials monitored the basin's clarity and used a massive new $4.6 billion gravity-operated pipeline system to move water quickly to reservoirs closer to the city.

So far, the ash that has been raining onto the reservoir has not sunk as far as the intake valves, which are about halfway down the 300-foot O'Shaughnessy Dam. Utility officials said the ash is non-toxic but that the city will begin filtering water for customers if problems are detected.

Power generation there was shut down last week so firefighters would not be imperiled by live wires. San Francisco is buying replacement power from other sources to run City Hall and municipal buildings.

It has been at least 17 years since fire ravaged the northernmost stretch of Yosemite that now is under siege.

Park officials cleared brush and set sprinklers on two groves of giant sequoias that were less than 10 miles away from the fire's front lines, said park spokesman Scott Gediman. While sequoias have a chemical in their bark to help them resist fire, they can be damaged when flames move through slowly with such intense heat.

The fire has swept through steep Sierra Nevada river canyons and stands of thick oak and pine, closing in on Tuolumne City and other mountain communities. It has confounded ground crews with its 300-foot walls of flame and the way it has jumped from treetop to treetop.

Crews spent Monday bulldozing firebreaks to protect Tuolumne City, several miles from the fire's edge.

Stratton said they would continue working to burn vegetation in the fire's path to slow its march toward town. He said that, while the community remains in harm's way, "I'm pretty optimistic."

Hundreds of locals packed a Sonora, Calif. church with concern etched on their faces, wanting to know where the fire is and where it was going, says KOVR. "Is it gonna come down?" asked Jan Colombani. "I think it's a real possibility and I wanna know the truth."

Meanwhile, biologists with the Forest Service are studying the effect of the wildlife. Much of the area that has burned is part of the state's winter-range deer habitat. Biologist Crispin Holland said most of the large deer herds would still be well above the fire danger.

Biologists discovered stranded Western pond turtles on national forest land near the edge of Yosemite. Their marshy meadow had burned, and the surviving creatures were huddled in the middle of the expanse in what little water remained.

"We're hoping to deliver some water to those turtles," Holland said. "We might also drag some brush in to give them cover."

Wildlife officials were also trying to monitor at least four bald eagle nests in the fire-stricken area.

While it has put a stop to some backcountry hiking, the fire has not threatened the Yosemite Valley, where such sights as the Half Dome and El Capitan rock formations and Yosemite Falls draw throngs of tourists. Most of the park remained open to visitors.

Rugged terrain, strong winds and bone-dry conditions have hampered firefighters' efforts to contain the blaze, which began Aug. 17. The cause has not been determined.

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Video: California wildfire: Rush to save 4,500 buildings, San Fransisco's water, Yosemite

Syria conflict: U.N. investigators under sniper fire 2:34 August 26, 2013

Syria conflict: U.N. investigators under sniper fireU.N. inspectors sent to confirm if toxic gas was used in last week's government attack that killed hundreds of people are coming under sniper attack. CBS News' Holly Williams reports.

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Huge Calif. wildfire spreads into Yosemite

FRESNO, Calif. A giant wildfire raging out of control spread into Yosemite National Park on Friday as authorities urged more evacuations in nearby communities where thousands have already been forced out by flames marching through the timbered slopes of the western Sierra Nevada.

A plume of smoke from the Rim Fire rises above an out building on August 23, 2013 near Groveland, California.

/ Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

The fire hit the park at the height of summer season, as officials geared up for a busy Labor Day weekend. It has closed some backcountry hiking but was not threatening the Yosemite Valley region, one of California's most popular tourist destinations.

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The spectacular valley carved by glaciers offers visitors such iconic sights as the Half Dome and El Capitan rock formations and Bridalveil and Yosemite falls.

The weeklong blaze has spread to more than 165 square miles and was only 2 percent contained. It continued to grow in several directions, although "most of the fire activity is pushing to the east right into Yosemite," said Daniel Berlant, spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Smoke blowing across the Sierra into the state of Nevada forced officials in several counties to cancel outdoor school activities and issue health advisories, especially for people with respiratory problems.

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Authorities urged more evacuations in nearby communities where thousands have already been forced out by flames.

The fire was threatening about 4,500 residences, according to the U.S. Forest Service. Already, the blaze has destroyed four homes and 12 outbuildings in several different areas. More than 2,000 firefighters were on the lines and one sustained a heat-related injury.

Bruce Munzer and his team worked to clear brush and put out hot spots. "It's holding right now," Munzer told CBS News. "It's looking pretty good. The wind is in our favor."

But airdrops of water and flame retardant are the only ways to outflank a fire that now ranks among the 20 worst California has ever seen, CBS News' Teresa Garcia reported.

While the park remained open, the blaze closed a 4-mile stretch of State Route 120, one of three entrances into Yosemite on the west side. Two other western routes and an eastern route were open.

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Within the park, the blaze was burning on about 17 square miles in a remote area around Lake Eleanor, about 4 miles northwest of Hetch Hetchy reservoir, Yosemite spokeswoman Kari Cobb said.

Backcountry permits are required to hike in that area, Cobb said. The park was no longer issuing those and had contacted every person who had received a permit to go there. Two roads into that area were closed and occupants of a campground near the Route 120 west entrance were relocated.

"We don't have anybody we know of in that area based on the permits we have out now," she said.

The fire was more than 20 miles from Yosemite Valley and skies there were "crystal clear," Cobb said.

"Right now there are no closures, and no visitor services are being affected in the park," he said. "We just have to take one day at a time depending on fire activity."

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The Hetch Hetchy reservoir supplies San Francisco with 85 percent of its water, but the city's Public Utilities Commission said in a statement that water quality has not been affected by the fire and was unlikely to be.

Two of three hydroelectric powerhouses in the area have been shut down because of the fire, the commission said, but the city has been able to make up the difference through buying power on the open market.

On Friday, officials issued voluntary evacuation advisories for two new towns — Tuolumne City, population 1,800, and Ponderosa Hills, a community of several hundred — which are about five miles from the fire line, Forest Service spokesman Jerry Snyder said.

A mandatory evacuation order remained in effect for part of Pine Mountain Lake, a summer gated community a few miles from the fire.

"It feels a little bit like a war zone, with helicopters flying overhead, bombers dropping retardant and 10 engine companies stationed on our street," said Ken Codeglia, a retired Pine Mountain Lake resident who decided to stay to protect his house with his own hoses and fire retardant system. "But if the fire gets very hot and firefighters evacuate, I will run with them."

Ken Cannobio was pumping water out of his swimming pool to spray around his house. He told CBS News' Teresa Garcia: "Just trying wet it down, get it moist as possible. The main thing is If the flames do get out there I'll try to put them out."

Cannobio has already packed the car for a quick get away. More than 1,000 people who live around him are already gone.

"There is a comfort zone that I have and it's pretty much down there a few hundred yards," he said, "so it's looking like we're not going to have to leave right now. But things could change."

Officials previously advised voluntary evacuations of more than a thousand other homes, several organized camps and at least two campgrounds in the area outside the park's boundary.

A firefighter uses a hose to mop up hot spots from the Rim Fire on August 23, 2013 in Yosemite National Park, California.

/ Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

More homes, businesses and hotels are threatened in nearby Groveland, a community of 600 about 5 miles from the fire and 25 miles from the entrance of Yosemite.

Usually filled with tourists, the streets are now swarming with firefighters, evacuees, and news crews, said Doug Edwards, owner of Hotel Charlotte on Main Street.

"We usually book out six months solid with no vacancies and turn away 30-40 people a night. That's all changed," Edwards said. "All we're getting for the next three weeks is cancellations. It's a huge impact on the community in terms of revenue dollars."

Park fire crews are working to clear brush and other fire fuels from the Merced and Tuolumne Groves of Giant Sequoias as a precaution.

The fire is raging in the same region where a 1987 fire killed a firefighter, burned hundreds of thousands of acres, and forced several thousand people out of their homes.

Five wildfires also were burning in Yellowstone National Park but not nearly as vigorously since portions the park in northwest Wyoming got half an inch or more of rain Wednesday.

Park officials continued to monitor a 12-square-mile fire five miles north of Lake Village. They didn't plan to send in firefighters but and continued to let the fire burn to help the ecosystem.

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1,600 homes evacuated as Idaho wildfire burns

Updated 10:02 PM ET

BOISE, Idaho Sheriff's deputies Friday expanded evacuation orders to 1,600 homes near the Idaho mountain resort community of Sun Valley as a wind-driven wildfire burned its way through sage and pine trees.

The evacuation orders for the 100-square-mile Beaver Creek Fire included homes in drainages and foothills west of the towns of Hailey and extending to north of Ketchum in central Idaho.

More than 600 state and federal firefighters were working to get the blaze under control and protect homes in the affluent resort region that's a second home to celebrities such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tom Hanks and Bruce Willis.

Another 1,000 firefighters were expected to report to the scene later Friday night, said Shawna Hartman, spokeswoman for the Beaver Creek Fire.

Fire managers say the fire grew rapidly Friday thanks to wind gusts topping out at 30 mph, low humidity and tinder-dry ground fuels.

"The fire activity is extreme," Hartman said. "It's safe to say we've got a lot of structures at risk."

Managers at the Sun Valley Ski Resort turned on water cannons that are normally used for wintertime snowmaking.

One home in an outlying valley was destroyed Thursday night, said Bronwyn Nickel, a spokeswoman for Blaine County, where the fire is burning.

In addition, some private insurers have sent in their own crews to provide structural protection for homes with values that can stretch into the millions of dollars, Nickel said.

"There are private engines that insurance companies have sent in," she said. "They're on site, they're working with our local firefighters and law enforcement."

Fire officials said crews spent the day building fire lines and trying to funnel the fire into areas burned during another blaze in 2007. A huge DC-10 tanker, capable of carrying 12,000 gallons of retardant, was among aircraft making drops on the blaze.

Jack Sibbach, a Sun Valley Resort spokesman, had to leave his home south of Ketchum on Friday. He said he watched as airplanes and helicopters made runs in roughly 3-minute intervals, dropping water and red retardant to create a barrier against flames west of U.S. Highway 75.

The resort turned on snow cannons on Bald Mountain, he said, largely to protect lodges atop the mountain, should the fire advance that far.

"The fire's not that close to Baldy, but with the wind, you're worrying about things sparking," Sibbach said. "Things could jump ahead."

Flying in separate aircraft, Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter and U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell took an aerial tour of the fire.

The towns of Ketchum, with a population of 2,700, and Sun Valley, with 1,400 people, were under pre-evacuation orders, with residents advised to prepare their belongings in case they were required to leave on a moment's notice.

Fire managers "are just adding an extra layer of caution to the plan that they started last night," said Rudy Evenson, a spokesman for the federal team overseeing the blaze. "We have a forecast for 30 mph winds at the ridge tops."

Southbound traffic on U.S. Highway 75 was backed up, as many residents and vacationers opted to flee the smoke. Traffic was "bumper to bumper," Hailey resident Jane McCann told The Associated Press by phone Friday.

"The smoke is unbearable," said McCann, who was in her car. "Today in Hailey, you couldn't see the mountains from Main Street."

Elsewhere in the western United States, shifting winds in Utah's Skull Valley pushed another wildfire across Utah Highway 99 toward the community of Terra, about 50 miles southwest of Salt Lake City, forcing the evacuation of several homes and a campground.

Exactly how many homes were evacuated wasn't known Friday, fire official Joanna Wilson said. The fire was 20 percent contained.

Calmer winds to the northwest allowed some evacuation orders to be lifted near a Utah mountain ski resort town, where a wildfire was about half-contained after burning seven homes earlier in the week.

However, about 110 homes located about 10 miles from the 2002 Olympic venue of Park City remained off-limits to their residents, as crews mopped up hot spots.

Summit County District Fire Warden Bryce Boyer said Friday there were also downed, potentially live power lines to contend with — and 500- or 1,000-pound propane tanks outside the homes leaking because the valves burned. Even homes still standing may have suffered some damage, from the intense heat.

"We want to assess the safety of those structures before we release the evacuation," Boyer said.

View the original article here

1,600 homes evacuated as Idaho wildfire burns

Updated 10:02 PM ET

BOISE, Idaho Sheriff's deputies Friday expanded evacuation orders to 1,600 homes near the Idaho mountain resort community of Sun Valley as a wind-driven wildfire burned its way through sage and pine trees.

The evacuation orders for the 100-square-mile Beaver Creek Fire included homes in drainages and foothills west of the towns of Hailey and extending to north of Ketchum in central Idaho.

More than 600 state and federal firefighters were working to get the blaze under control and protect homes in the affluent resort region that's a second home to celebrities such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tom Hanks and Bruce Willis.

Another 1,000 firefighters were expected to report to the scene later Friday night, said Shawna Hartman, spokeswoman for the Beaver Creek Fire.

Fire managers say the fire grew rapidly Friday thanks to wind gusts topping out at 30 mph, low humidity and tinder-dry ground fuels.

"The fire activity is extreme," Hartman said. "It's safe to say we've got a lot of structures at risk."

Managers at the Sun Valley Ski Resort turned on water cannons that are normally used for wintertime snowmaking.

One home in an outlying valley was destroyed Thursday night, said Bronwyn Nickel, a spokeswoman for Blaine County, where the fire is burning.

In addition, some private insurers have sent in their own crews to provide structural protection for homes with values that can stretch into the millions of dollars, Nickel said.

"There are private engines that insurance companies have sent in," she said. "They're on site, they're working with our local firefighters and law enforcement."

Fire officials said crews spent the day building fire lines and trying to funnel the fire into areas burned during another blaze in 2007. A huge DC-10 tanker, capable of carrying 12,000 gallons of retardant, was among aircraft making drops on the blaze.

Jack Sibbach, a Sun Valley Resort spokesman, had to leave his home south of Ketchum on Friday. He said he watched as airplanes and helicopters made runs in roughly 3-minute intervals, dropping water and red retardant to create a barrier against flames west of U.S. Highway 75.

The resort turned on snow cannons on Bald Mountain, he said, largely to protect lodges atop the mountain, should the fire advance that far.

"The fire's not that close to Baldy, but with the wind, you're worrying about things sparking," Sibbach said. "Things could jump ahead."

Flying in separate aircraft, Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter and U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell took an aerial tour of the fire.

The towns of Ketchum, with a population of 2,700, and Sun Valley, with 1,400 people, were under pre-evacuation orders, with residents advised to prepare their belongings in case they were required to leave on a moment's notice.

Fire managers "are just adding an extra layer of caution to the plan that they started last night," said Rudy Evenson, a spokesman for the federal team overseeing the blaze. "We have a forecast for 30 mph winds at the ridge tops."

Southbound traffic on U.S. Highway 75 was backed up, as many residents and vacationers opted to flee the smoke. Traffic was "bumper to bumper," Hailey resident Jane McCann told The Associated Press by phone Friday.

"The smoke is unbearable," said McCann, who was in her car. "Today in Hailey, you couldn't see the mountains from Main Street."

Elsewhere in the western United States, shifting winds in Utah's Skull Valley pushed another wildfire across Utah Highway 99 toward the community of Terra, about 50 miles southwest of Salt Lake City, forcing the evacuation of several homes and a campground.

Exactly how many homes were evacuated wasn't known Friday, fire official Joanna Wilson said. The fire was 20 percent contained.

Calmer winds to the northwest allowed some evacuation orders to be lifted near a Utah mountain ski resort town, where a wildfire was about half-contained after burning seven homes earlier in the week.

However, about 110 homes located about 10 miles from the 2002 Olympic venue of Park City remained off-limits to their residents, as crews mopped up hot spots.

Summit County District Fire Warden Bryce Boyer said Friday there were also downed, potentially live power lines to contend with — and 500- or 1,000-pound propane tanks outside the homes leaking because the valves burned. Even homes still standing may have suffered some damage, from the intense heat.

"We want to assess the safety of those structures before we release the evacuation," Boyer said.

View the original article here