California fire officials report first wildfire death of the 2024 season
SAN FRANCISCO — A wildfire that authorities say was sparked by high winds has claimed the first death of the 2024 season in California.
Mendocino County officials say they have found human remains in the home of a woman who was burned in a fire that started Monday.
The coroner’s office is working to identify the body, but it could be that of a 66-year-old woman whose family reported her missing. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, known as CalFire, confirmed the discovery of the remains.
Authorities in western states warned of the increasing risk of wildfires amid a long lasting heat wave this week that dried out the landscape, set temperature records and endangered lives.
In Arizona, at least nine homes on the San Carlos Apache Reservation, about two hours east of Phoenix, have been destroyed by a blaze known as the Watch Fire, but no injuries or deaths have been reported, said Robyn Broyles, a spokesperson for the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
The fire was 0% contained on Friday, she said, and had so far burned nearly 5.2 square kilometers (2 square miles) in an area of the reserve covered in thick brush and cottonwoods.
Officials said the fire started Thursday afternoon and spread to the center of the reservation, which is home to about 10,200 people, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.
Meanwhile, California’s top fire official said this week that the state has responded to more than 3,500 wildfires so far this year, burning nearly 330 square miles (842 square kilometers). That’s five times the average number of fires through July 10 in each of the past five years.
“We’re not just in a fire season, we’re in a fire year,” Joe Tyler, director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said at a news conference. “Our winds and the recent heat wave have exacerbated the problem and destroyed thousands of acres. So we have to be extra careful.”
California crews working in scorching temperatures and single-digit humidity battled multiple wildfires Thursday, including a stubborn 53-square-mile (137-square-kilometer) blaze that prompted evacuations for about 200 homes in the mountains of Santa Barbara County northwest of Los Angeles. The fire was 16% contained.
The fires in California began in earnest in early June, after two consecutive wet winters that the state rescued from drought but produced abundant grasses that have since dried out. A lightning strike in June sparked a few fires, a risk that could return this weekend with thunderstorms in the Sierra Nevada, meteorologists said.
In Oregon, firefighters continued to battle the Larch Creek Fire Thursday, which had grown to at least 16.6 square miles (43 square kilometers) of grassland since Tuesday. Cooling temperatures and calming winds aided their efforts, but local fire danger remained extreme. One firefighter was treated for heat-related injuries.
Officials in Oregon and Washington state have imposed burn bans and other restrictions to prevent sparks. Campfires, chain saw operation and target shooting are prohibited in most areas. Central Oregon limits chain saw operation and grass mowing to certain hours, followed by a one-hour fire watch.
In Hawaii, Haleakala National Park on Maui was closed as firefighters battled a blaze on the mountain’s slopes. Visitors in more than 150 vehicles who had ascended Wednesday for the famous sunset were unable to descend until around 4 a.m. Thursday because the narrow roads were blocked by firefighters.
No homes were immediately threatened, but some residents were told to prepare for possible evacuations. The 40 mph (64 kph) winds were a concern for firefighters, said Maui Fire Department spokesman Chris Stankis. “The winds are a little stronger than our typical trade winds,” he said.
The fire is burning just miles from an area where 26 buildings burned during deadly wind-driven wildfires on Maui last August. “But the residents who lost their homes are scared,” said Yuki Lei Sugimura, who represents the area on the Maui County Council. “It’s like PTSD.”
On Thursday, meteorologists predicted that the heat would ease somewhat from the weekend onwards.
More than 51 million A heat warning was still in effect for people in the US on Friday, down significantly from earlier this week.
The heat wave in the US came as global temperatures hit a record high in June for the 13th month in a row and marked the 12th consecutive month that the world was 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than in pre-industrial times, according to Europe’s climate service Copernicus. Most of this heat, trapped by human-caused climate change, comes from long-term warming from greenhouse gases released from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas, scientists say.
___
Yamat reported from Las Vegas. Associated Press reporters Jennifer Kelleher in Honolulu; Tran Nguyen in Sacramento, Calif.; John Antczak in Los Angeles; Anita Snow in Phoenix; Martha Bellisle in Seattle; and Bruce Shipkowski in Toms River, New Jersey, contributed to this report.