Washington - Firefighters in California on Monday battled
several wildfires that have forced thousands of residents to flee and
prompted a mobilization of the state's National Guard.
About 4 000 people in an area about 100 kilometres north of the
capital Sacramento were under an evacuation order despite a fire
there being 35 per cent contained, according to the state fire
protection agency.
The fire has burned nearly 23 square kilometres in the grassy
foothills in the Sierra Nevada mountains, injuring four firefighters
and destroying at least 17 structures.
It is one of 14 fires in California. The state has deployed about
5,000 firefighters and Governor Jerry Brown has declared a state of
emergency.
The California National Guard - part of the US army reserve forces -
said in a new release that it was in the process of mobilizing to
assist civilian firefighters.
Fires broke out amid a heatwave over the weekend that made conditions
for fighting the fires even worse. Slightly cooler weather, forecast
for the coming days, is expected to bring some relief.
About 3 500 people remain evacuated because of two fires in Santa
Barbara County. The largest is 15 per cent contained but is
threatening more than 130 homes.
Crews also made progress on wildfires in Colorado, Arizona and New
Mexico, according to ABC News.
In Colorado a wildfire temporarily forced the evacuation of hundreds
of people near the resort town of Breckenridge. Efforts to battle it
were winding down on Monday.
A wildfire destroyed three homes in a rural Arizona community over
the weekend, while in New Mexico firefighters were mopping up a
wildfire in the mountains overlooking Albuquerque.