Firefighters are battling multiple wildfires in California, including the largest one so far this year. And, the triple-digit temperatures are not helping. Those temperatures are expected to continue into the beginning of the workweek.
By Sunday, the Beckwourth Complex Fire grew to 134 square mile near the Nevada border. It started when two lightning bolts struck north of Lake Tahoe. Firefighters have 20 percent containment.
Flames reached U.S. 395 late Saturday. The highway was closed near the small town of Doyle in California’s Lassen County. The lanes reopened Sunday.
Officials urged drivers to be cautious and keep moving along the parts of the highway where flames were still active.
In Oregon, the Bootleg Fire grew to 224 square miles over the weekend. It’s moving primarily through the Fremont-Winema National Forest near Sprague River.
The fire prevented three transmission lines from sending up to 5,500 megawatts of electricity to California.
The California Independent System Operator, which manages the state’s power grid, issued a five-hour “flex alert” starting at 4 p.m. Monday. They asked people to “conserve as much electricity as possible” to avoid any outages.
In Arizona, two people died in a plane crash connected to the Cedar Basin Fire in Mohave County. The plane was on a reconnaissance flight over the fire when it crashed. Lightning started the fire there, as well.
On Sunday, officials identified the victims as 62-year-old Jeff Piechura and 48-year-old Matthew Miller. Piechhura was a retired Tucson-area fire chief who was working for the Coronado National Forest as an air tactical group supervisor. Miller was a pilot with Falcon Executive Aviation, who the U.S. Forest Service contracted to help with the fire. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash.
A wildfire in southeast Washington grew to almost 60 square miles as it moved into the Umatilla National Forest.
And, in Idaho, Governor Brad Little declared a wildfire emergency Friday and mobilized the state’s National Guard to help fight fires.
