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Friday, March 29, 2024

More than 200 evacuated in California wildfires

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More than 200 evacuated in California wildfires
More than 200 evacuated in California wildfires

More than 200 people were airlifted to safety overnight after a fast-moving wildfire cut off the only road out of the Mammoth Pool Reservoir, a popular recreational site in California's Sierra National Forest.

Gloria Tso reports.

More than 200 people were airlifted to safety out of California's Sierra National Forest this weekend, after a fast-moving wildfire cut off the only road out of a popular recreational site called the Mammoth Pool Reservoir.

The Madera County Sheriff said on Twitter Sunday that some twenty evacuees had been taken to area hospitals, as the Creek Fire that started on Friday night grew rapidly -- burning some 45,000 acres, forcing evacuations and road closures in the Fresno area in central California.

According to CalFire, the blaze was zero percent contained as of Sunday afternoon.

Nearly 15,000 firefighters were battling 23 blazes across the state as of Sunday morning.

Three major fires, including the Creek Fire, were burning through Fresno, San Bernardino and San Diego counties, the agency said in a statement, adding that it had increased staffing to prepare for "critical fire weather." A dangerous heat wave has been baking swathes of the western United States over the weekend.

And the National Weather Service warned that "sweltering" heat would persist, creating ideal conditions for wildfires.

Many locations in California registered record-high temperatures on Saturday.

Eight people have been killed and some 3,300 structures have been destroyed in the wildfires so far, which have raged across the state for the past three weeks.

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