Firefighters on both United States coasts battled huge blazes early on Friday, including one that burned homes and forced residents and visitors on Santa Catalina Island to flee the resort off the southern California coast.
Dozens of fire engines arrived through the night aboard giant military hovercraft from the Marine Corps’ Camp Pendleton. The high-speed hovercraft can carry 60 tonnes over land or water and are often used by the military on humanitarian missions.
The blaze broke out on Thursday afternoon on the island more than 32km off the coast. Flames threatened the city limits of Avalon, where hundreds of people lined up at the harbour on Thursday night to board ferries back to the mainland. Many covered their faces with towels and bandanas as ashes fell.
A few homes burned, but firefighters were protecting other properties late into the night, Avalon fire chief Steven Hoefs said. About 1 200 homes were under voluntary or mandatory evacuation orders. ”We’re hanging in for now,” Hoefs said.
In Georgia, a second wildfire in Okefenokee Swamp has burned more than 40 400ha acres, rivalling in just five days the vast record-setting fire that has scorched south-east Georgia for more than three weeks, firefighters said on Thursday.
The rapidly growing fire, fed by fast-burning swamp grasses, was ignited on Saturday by a lightning strike in the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.
Georgia and Florida have been battling wildfires for weeks, with nearly 777 square kilometres charred as a drought has left the land tinder-dry.
Smoke-filled air created a burning smell and a dusting of ashes that coated cars and buildings through much of Florida and southeastern Georgia. The haze over Florida forced the closure of several highways.
Health officials warned the elderly, small children and people with breathing problems to stay indoors, although some areas were not as smoky on Thursday. No one has died in the fires and just one firefighter had minor injuries.
Authorities had been hoping the year’s first named storm would bring rain. But the remnants of Subtropical Storm Andrea were not promising much rainfall relief — only up to an inch was expected.
California
In California, the blaze that began east of the Santa Catalina Island’s airport grew to 1 619ha, feeding on dry brush as winds steadily blew throughout the day and into the night. Winds later calmed and the air grew moist, although the threat remained.
An orange inferno loomed behind the quaint crescent harbour, landmark 1929 Catalina Casino and homes, restaurants and tiny hotels clinging to slopes above the waterfront.
A commercial building and several warehouse structures burned, and 175 utility customers lost electricity when power poles caught on fire.
Overnight, Blackhawk and Chinook helicopters were ferrying in firefighters — 32 at a time. Hand crews were being positioned at the city’s edge to protect homes. ”We’re on defence mode for now,” Hoefs said.
At least 160 firefighters, aided by four water-dropping helicopters and three retardant-dropping air tankers, battled flames through most of Thursday. One county firefighter, overcome by smoke, was hospitalised in stable condition.
In Avalon, authorities used a bullhorn to urge people to evacuate and head to the beach. The Catalina Express ferry service added several night departures of 400-passenger vessels from Avalon. Hundreds of residents and visitors boarded the ferries to reach the mainland.
Despite being well offshore, Catalina has been left parched by the lack of rainfall that has made the rest of Southern California particularly susceptible to wildfires like the one in Los Angeles’s Griffith Park this week.
Firefighters were still working on Friday to surround what remained of that fire, which briefly chased people from homes and threatened the park’s landmark observatory and zoo.
A long, narrow island, Catalina covers 197 square kilometres and is home to various species of wildlife.
In northern Minnesota, high wind fanned a fire around the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, prompting more evacuations. Bill Paxton, a spokesperson for the firefighting effort, said the fire was ”challenging” the containment lines. ”They’re holding right now,” he said. ”We’re having some difficulty holding them, but they’re holding now.”
The fire had burned more than 116 square kilometres and destroyed about 45 structures since it started on Saturday. The shifting winds on Thursday put another 100 buildings at risk, fire officials said. — Sapa-AP