Fires may merge into monster

[Janice]

Two raging wildfires threaten to merge

If they do, fire 'will be almost impossible to stop'

YUCCA VALLEY, California (AP) -- A wildfire that has already burned 40,000 acres and destroyed 100 buildings roared through high desert wilderness Thursday, threatening to merge with a fire in national forest land filled with dead, dry trees.

"If it starts in there it will be almost impossible to stop," California Department of Forestry spokeswoman Karen Guillemin said of the fire edging toward San Bernardino National Forest.

The blaze, about five miles from a 1,200-acre fire in the forest, was mainly consuming fast-burning fuel such as greasewood, Joshua trees and brush.

If it expands from the high desert to the mountains, it could grow more devastating by burning millions of larger trees killed in recent years by a severe bark beetle infestation.

The fire, ignited by weekend lightning, destroyed 42 houses, 55 other buildings and 91 vehicles in and around Yucca Valley, about 100 miles east of Los Angeles, authorities said.

As of Thursday morning, it was considered only about one-fourth contained and thousands of structures remained threatened.

Firefighters were unable to save a trailer that was home to Justus H. Motter, 89.

"All my personal things were in there -- my wedding pictures, the pictures of my niece. It's an awful loss," he said.

The blaze sent a column of smoke thousands of feet into the air. Authorities said the smoke could be smelled as far away as Ogden, Utah, and Las Vegas.

About 1,350 firefighters were battling the larger fire in triple-digit temperatures and strong wind gusts. Nine firefighters and two civilians were treated for minor burns or smoke inhalation.

About 1,000 evacuees from Pioneertown, Burns Canyon, Rimrock, Gamma Gulch, Flamingo Heights and Little Morongo Canyon had not returned to their homes, said Capt. Marc DeRosier of the California Department of Forestry.

Pioneertown is a historic area where Westerns starring Gene Autry and Roy Rogers were filmed, but the fire spared saloons and Western style store fronts used in those movies. (Watch how fire roared through Pioneertown -- 1:34)

In the Gamma Gulch area, dead animals littered a property where a home and barn burned.

"We drove through a wall of flames to get out," Robin Thomas of Pike's Canyon told The Sun of San Bernardino. "This was the most beautiful place in the high desert, the greenest place. Now all the vegetation is gone."

Elsewhere in the West, several new wildfires in southern Montana spread quickly -- one to an estimated 10,000 acres -- because of windy weather.

At least one house on the Crow Indian Reservation was reported destroyed by a blaze, said Jon Kohn, an information officer for the Crow Agency Bureau of Indian Affairs' Forestry division.

There also was a 3,150-acre wildfire west of Columbus, and another burning north of Pompeys Pillar that was estimated at 10,000 acres, said Mary Apple, a spokeswoman with the Bureau of Land Management.

Wildfires have burned more than 4 million acres nationwide, almost twice the 10-year average for this time of year, according to National Interagency Fire Center.

[NBCintern]

You know I have lived in CALI all my life and I have seen fires come and go, but I have never seen or heard of the fire service saying it would be impossible to stop. I just never them say a statement like that. Afraid to go home now. Pollution must really suck now..

[Janice]

Yes, kind of like trying to stop a cat 5 hurricane. Some things in nature are just out of our hands.

[TexasStooge]

Oh, dear!

[azsnowman]

Received a call from my sister in law in San Diego.....they went up in a plane that her friend owns and flew pretty close to the fire and she said it was the WORST fire she or anyone has ever seen in Californina........she lost her house in Julian 2 years ago to the Cedar Fire and she said that these fires surpass ANYTHING....and the worst part is, it's so BLASTED HOT out west here........

[Janice]

Our friends lost their house two years ago too in the Cedar Fire. They lost everything.

[HurricaneHunter914]

If they can't stop these fires, who knows how far this will spread?! Hopefully this won't effect any other neighboring states.

[azsnowman]

We have HEAVY, HEAVY smoke for the monster fires in California, I went through this once 4 years ago but to have SMOKE from Cali......that has GOT to be horrible to say the very least

[TexasStooge]

WHEN WILL THIS DEPRESSING DROUGHT EVER END?!?!?!?!?

[azsnowman]

WHEN WILL THIS DEPRESSING DROUGHT EVER END?!?!?!?!?

I don't know but it IS indeed very depressing to say the least......to see virgin forests go up in flames or die from the lack of water and to see everything that USED to be green now totally brown, is well, downright depressing!

[wxmann_91]

The heat is going to crank up where I once lived over the next two days. Really bad situation there. But moisture's going to increase next week.

[Aslkahuna]

First off, Summer's always dry in CA so they have no rain to look forward to until October. As far as the drought elsewhere, the average length is 10-12 years for the periodic droughts that happen in the West (of which this is one of) and the current one began in 1996 so on averae we could see an end this year or by 2008. OTOH, these droughts have also been known to have lasted up to 40 years so it could conceivably last until 2036.

Steve

[stormtruth]

Global warming is also expected to increase droughts and fires.

[Aslkahuna]

That may be true but the only way to know for sure is to note whether or not there is an increase in incidents of same in areas that don't normally experience either on a regular basis like we do with Drought in the West every 20 years or fires in Southern California every year.

Steve

[conestogo_flood]

Is this a firestorm? CNN said it could become a super fire.

[azsnowman]

The smoke here tonight from the fires is UNBELIEVABLE.....if I didn't know any better and was watching the news, I'd swear we had a fire......it's terrible!

[azsnowman]

Is this a firestorm? CNN said it could become a super fire.

Yes indeed......a fire storm unlike anyone has seen before, it's slowly becoming as bad as our 450,000 acre Rodeo Chediski Fire of 2002

[stormtruth]

The fires have merged yet the firefighters sound more hopeful.
http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?secti ... id=4357579

[azsnowman]

The smoke here tonight from the fires is UNBELIEVABLE.....if I didn't know any better and was watching the news, I'd swear we had a fire......it's terrible!

Talked to some friends of ours from Cortez Colorado a few hours ago, they too, even THAT far away are suffering from hazy, smokey skies, no smell of smoke just the heavy fog like effect.