Thousands of people were ordered to evacuate parts of California’s San Joaquin County overnight as rescuers continued to battle a wildfire that broke out Saturday afternoon and had spread to more than 12,500 acres as of Sunday morning, with the fire still largely out of control.
The fire broke out near Site 300 at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, where explosive tissues and hydrodynamic apparatus are developed and tested, and spread rapidly, crossing a main highway and heading south.
Interstate 580 closed Saturday and remains closed Sunday from Alameda County to Stanislaus County, while evacuation orders continued to expand overnight as local firefighters reported the lockdown was reduced from 40% to 13%, before reducing it to 15%.
The investigation is for the reasons for the fire.
Dry conditions and gusty winds contributed to the fire’s spread, according to Fox Weather, and two firefighters have been injured since the blaze started.
The region is under an excessive heat watch, with high temperatures between 95 and 107 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the National Weather Service, and strong winds are expected to continue overnight, according to CNN.
The fire broke out about 70 miles east of San Francisco and about 80 miles south of Sacramento. The nearest major city is Modesto, about 30 miles to the east, where about 200,000 people live.
That’s the number of giant wildfires (burning 300 acres or more) in California so far this year, according to the nonprofit media organization Cal Matters. So far, 34,400 acres have burned.
California suffers a large number of wildfires between April and October, but the wildfire season is lengthening and the fires are getting worse due to climate change, scientists say. The Environmental Protection Agency warned in February that fires in the state are expected to continue to build in intensity and frequency, threatening not only to destroy assets and end lives, but also to permanently deteriorate air quality. Increased heat and severe droughts have been blamed for starting and fueling more wildfires.
Last year in Hawaii, hurricane-force winds sparked wildfires in drought-stricken areas and shot down helicopters that were meant to help fight the blaze, fueling the deadliest blaze in the U. S. In the U. S. , in more than a century. Nearly 100 more people were killed, the historic city of Lahaina was swept away and thousands of homes, cars and businesses were destroyed in the blaze, which the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said caused $5. 6 billion in damage.
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