'Blue Cut Fire' in Southern California rages unchecked after evacuations
[caption id=“attachment_2963786” align=“alignnone” width=“940”] A Southern California wildfire raged virtually unchecked in thick brush on Wednesday after destroying dozens of houses near a highway corridor between Los Angeles and Las Vegas and forcing as many as 80,000 residents to flee their homes. Reuters[/caption] [caption id=“attachment_2963788” align=“alignnone” width=“940”]  The so-called Blue Cut Fire ignited on Tuesday in the mountainous Cajon Pass and has exploded to cover 25,626 acres (10,370 hectares).
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A Southern California wildfire raged virtually unchecked in thick brush on Wednesday after destroying dozens of houses near a highway corridor between Los Angeles and Las Vegas and forcing as many as 80,000 residents to flee their homes. Reuters
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The so-called Blue Cut Fire ignited on Tuesday in the mountainous Cajon Pass and has exploded to cover 25,626 acres (10,370 hectares). Reuters
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Firefighters had carved containment lines around only four percent of the blaze by Wednesday night, fire officials said. Reuters
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Firefighters described the blaze as unusually fierce, even for a year of intense wildfires in the US West, where years of drought have placed a heavy burden on firefighting resources. A firefighting helicopter maneuvers around power lines and smoke to make a water drop during the fire. Reuters
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The Blue Cut Fire, named for a narrow gorge north of San Bernardino where it started, threatened the town of Wrightwood near a ski resort and other communities in a partly rural area, authorities said. Trees burn on a hillside fire near Wrightwood. Reuters
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“In my 40 years of fighting fire, I’ve never seen fire behavior so extreme as it was yesterday (Wednesday),” Michael Wakoski, the incident commander on the fire, told a news conference on Wednesday. Reuters
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As many as eight wildland fires were burning in California on Wednesday, three of them scorching thousands of acres as firefighters sought help from emergency responders from other states and the California National Guard. Reuters
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The Los Angeles Times reported hundreds of residents were staying in their houses, despite dire warnings from authorities. US government forecasters have said Southern California faces a potential threat from major wildfires until December, given the dryness and warm weather. Reuters
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