CA Arson Blaze Forces Thousands to Flee

July 26--Firefighters on Thursday morning continued their battle against a brush fire that exploded in the San Jacinto Mountains the previous afternoon, burning five homes and forcing thousands of Idyllwild residents to flee, authorities said.

The blaze was deliberately set, authorities say, by a 32-year-old Temecula man on Wednesday afternoon. Chewing through grass and brush baked bone-dry by a heat wave, the Cranston fire exploded to 4,700 acres amid triple-digit heat and was only 5% contained at the end of the first night. The man who allegedly started the fire was taken into custody on suspicion of arson.

"There's been so much fire activity that we haven't gone in and done an accurate damage assessment or containment," said Capt. Scott Visyak of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

The first five destroyed homes burned before sundown on Wednesday in Idyllwild's Deer Foot neighborhood, he said. Resources are stretched thin battling other blazes across the state, so crews are sometimes assigning one fire engine for every two homes and are having to move on from residences that are deemed too much at-risk to try and protect, he said. With that said, firefighters are trying to protect every home they can, he added.

But crews are in for another day of punishing summer heat.

On Thursday, the National Weather Service announced it was extending an excessive heat advisory from Thursday evening to Friday evening.

The weather pattern has intermittently knocked out power to thousands of customers in Los Angeles County and elsewhere as customers ratchet up their air conditioners and utility equipment overheats.

But where the heat isn't challenging the electrical grid, it's priming the landscape for fire.

Along the Central Sierra in Mariposa County, thousands of firefighters are trying to get a handle on the Ferguson fire outside Yosemite National Park. The blaze has scorched 43,299 acres since it began July 13 south of Highway 140.

That blaze has killed one firefighter and injured seven more. It was 27% contained as of Thursday morning, but continued to pose challenges as it burned through rugged mountain terrain. U.S. Forest Service officials said the blaze jumped a containment line overnight and made a push south that crews are working to contain.

The fire continues to keep a host of isolated mountain communities under evacuation orders, including El Portal, Anderson Valley and Yosemite West.

Farther north, firefighters are also battling against the Carr fire in Shasta County. That 20,000-acre blaze began Monday and began burning homes Wednesday night, according to Cal Fire officials. The Carr fire was 10% contained Thursday.

Altogether, there are more than a dozen wildfires burning across California as of Thursday morning, according to Cal Fire.

The blaze that's the most immediate threat to Southern Californians, however, continues to be the Cranston fire. The fire was listed as only 5% contained Thursday morning and was still listed at 4,700 acres.

Authorities have closed Highway 73 from Hemet to Lake Hemet and Highway 243 from Banning to Highway 74. The South Coast Air Quality Management District issued a smoke advisory Thursday for Riverside County and the San Bernardino National Forest.

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