Fires in California: "The fire is faster"

After the devastating fires in northern California, the flames also spread to the south of the Pacific state.

More than 1,000 Californians had to leave their homes on Wednesday when the South Fire in the San Bernardino district east of Los Angeles ate its way through more than two square kilometers of bushland within a few hours.

At least 15 houses and barns burned down while firefighters used fire planes and bulldozers to try to keep the flames away from places like Rialto, Scotland and Lytle Creek.

"The dry vegetation is helping the fire to spread at breakneck speed," Mike McClintock, spokesman for the San Bernardino district fire department, told the Los Angeles Times. Since the south of the state was hit by flames earlier than in previous years this fire season, only about 500 firefighters were deployed in the region on Wednesday. "Many of our responders who normally serve in our forests are currently employed in northern California or Idaho and Washington," said Lyn Sieliet, spokeswoman for the San Bernardino National Forest.

So far, the California Forest and Fire Protection Agency (Cal Fire) has reported more than 6,000 fires for 2021, which spread rapidly during historic drought and low rainfall. The 2021 fire season is already one of the most devastating on record. The Dixie Fire, which has burned more than 3,000 square kilometers of forest north of Sacramento and the communities of Greenville and Canyondam since mid-July, is considered the largest conflagration in California's history. By Thursday it could only be contained to about 45 percent.

The Caldor fire, only about eleven percent contained, continued to spread southwest of Lake Tahoe on Thursday. Fierce gusts of wind drove the sparks every hour over up to four square kilometers of wooded hills. “This fire overtook us. We have mobilized all resources. The fire chiefs of the Amador and El Dorado counties sent everything they had, ”said Jeff Marsolais, director of the El Dorado National Forest parks authority. "But no matter how many people we have in action, the fire is faster."