© CalFireFirefighter at the Ponderosa Fire, August 20, 2012
Sacramento, California - Wildfires that have destroyed homes, forced evacuations and caused road closures prompted California Governor Jerry Brown to issue an emergency proclamation today for three northern California counties at their request.
"I find that conditions of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property exist due to the fires in the counties of Plumas, Shasta, and Tehama," the governor said in his proclamation. "The fires have destroyed residences and threaten thousands of homes and other structures, causing residents to be evacuated, roads to be closed, and emergency shelters to be opened."
The Ponderosa Fire near Manton in Tehama County has now burned 24,323 acres and is 50 percent contained. The fire was started by lightning on August 18 and has spread to neighboring Shasta County.
Thousands of people have been ordered to leave their homes as the blaze in thick forest threatens rural communities. About 3,500 homes in an area along the border of Tehama and Shasta counties are threatened as the fire continues to expand.
On Saturday, the Shasta County Sheriff's Office closed Highway 44 between Shingletown and Viola and evacuated area residents from at least 700 homes. Since then, security details have been patrolling the evacuated areas and will remain until the residents are allowed to return to their homes.
"At this time it is too early to speculate when Highway 44 road closure will be lifted," the Shasta County Sheriff's Office said this morning. "Law enforcement and fire personnel are evaluating the fire. We are looking at the weather and safety conditions hour by hour in hopes to allow the residents to return to their homes safely."
"Resources are stretched thin and fire suppression activities are still in effect," said the sheriff's office. "We do not want to lift closures prematurely and open up the area with unsafe conditions."
Comment: The latter half of August is proving no less portentous:
Fireballs impacting the ground
Honduras Investigates Alleged Meteorite Crash
Large meteorites found after fireball lands in Manitoba, Canada
Meteorite starts fire in Itatiba, Brazil following separate Fireball incident in neighbouring Campinas days earlier
Meteorite hits moving car in Sioux City
More strange sky sounds
More strange sky sounds, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Strange Sounds Over Suffern, New York
Strange Sounds in Germany
Multiple tornadoes/waterspouts
Nine waterspouts spotted on Lake Michigan
Multiple waterspouts touch down in Black Sea, near Foros, Ukraine
Multiple waterspouts touch down off Polish coast
Unusual lightning strikes
Lightning kills two brothers in Russia's Kursk region
3 Lightning strike survivors on Mt Whitney, CA: 'We thought we were on fire'
Lightning injures 10 New Jersey soldiers at New York's Ft. Drum
Lightning-sparked huge fire burns to edge of 3 small California towns
Authorities ID Wisconsin boy killed in lightning strike
Increase in Lightning Observed Across Japan... What the Hell Is That?!
Five seriously injured in French lightning strike
Lightning Strike Kills Wisconsin Boy, 9, and Injures Seven Others on Sailboat