News

World news
Wildfires
Wildfires in California and Arizona grow as
officials order new evacuations
Blaze in central California nearly doubles in size and threatens homes as firefighters struggle
against separate Arizona blaze
Share 17

inShare 0
mail
Associated !ress in "ariposa# California

theguardian$com # %uesday &7 "ay &01' 17$11 BS%

(ump to comments )*+
A fire burns near ,a-
Cree- Canyon# Arizona$ !hotograph. /oss 0$ 1ran-lin2A!
State fire officials brought in hundreds of additional firefighters to battle a central California
blaze that had burned through 1$' s3uare miles as of %uesday morning and was threatening
about 100 rural homes$
%he fire burning in foothills near 4a-e "cClure in "ariposa County nearly doubled in size
o5ernight and was 10 percent contained# state fire spo-esman 0aniel Berlant said$ %he
threatened homes are under e5acuation orders$
Berlant said about 600 firefighters were battling the 7unters 1ire on %uesday morning# up
from 100 firefighters when the blaze began a day earlier$
%he fire# fueled by dry brush# was burning in steep terrain that crews were ha5ing difficulty
accessing$ %emperatures were also e8pected to be in the *0s on %uesday$ Berlant said air
tan-ers and helicopters were being used to fight the blaze$
9%his fire is burning li-e it would in summer with the dry conditions we:5e been
e8periencing#9 Berlant said$
%he fire began on "onday afternoon as a structure fire# Berlant said$ No additional structures
were damaged or destroyed as of %uesday morning# Berlant said$
"eanwhile# a fire burning in and around ,a- Cree- Canyon in northern Arizona continued to
grow in size e5en though firefighters ha5e established a containment line around all of it$
%he fire:s size increased from &;$* s3uare miles "onday e5ening to <1$7 s3uare miles
%uesday morning due to burnout operations intended to depri5e the flames of fuel$
%he fire:s official containment figure remains at <6= because some areas within the
containment line still ha5e acti5e low>intensity fire while others remain hot to the touch$
%he human>caused fire started &0 "ay$