Creek Fire explodes in size, trapping and injuring campers
By Andrew Freedman Washington Post
September 6, 2020 at 1:17 p.m.
Sunday will be one of the hottest days in recent memory across much of California, the day after scorching temperatures set scores of records and intensified destructive wildfires erupting in the state.
Heat and red flag warnings are in effect statewide into the coming week as the heat will continue to fuel the fires already burning and could cause any new blazes to rapidly grow out of control.
The most serious wildfire situation has developed with the Creek Fire in the Sierra National Forest, about 290 miles north of Los Angeles, which was first detected Friday night and rapidly grew to at least 45,000 acres by Sunday morning.
That fire trapped about 1,000 people near Mammoth Pool reservoir as flames crossed the San Joaquin River, including about 150 people who became trapped at a boat launch, the AP reports.
California wildfire traps campers in Sierra National Forest
(AP)
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
SEP. 6, 202012:55 AM UPDATED 7:17 AM
SHAVER LAKE, Calif. — Three fast-spreading California wildfires sent people fleeing Saturday, with one trapping campers at a reservoir in the Sierra National Forest, as a brutal heat wave pushed temperatures into triple digits in many parts of state.
The wildfire burning near Shaver Lake exploded to 56 square miles, jumped a river and compromised the only road into the Mammoth Pool Campground, national forest spokesman Dan Tune said. At least 2,000 structures were threatened in the area about 290 miles north of Los Angeles, where temperatures in the city’s San Fernando Valley reached 117 degrees.
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