For the residents of Paradise, east of Chico, July 11th looked almost exactly like June 11th -- fire raging on their doorstep, smoke darkening the skies, and first responders urging them to evacuate. As the Siege of 2008 enters its second month, crews from throughout California and the nation continue to battle the elements and fatigue to protect our state.
Another 2,000 National Guard ground troops will join its aerial mutual aid assets in battling the swarm of lightning fires burning throughout much of Northern California. That brings the total to 2,400 troops ordered by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to provide personnel for hand crews, transportation and command and control support. More than 1,700 fires have been sparked in California over the last month, consuming more than 700,000 acres.
As weather on the front lines continues to assist the firefighting effort, the sobering toll of the 2008 Firestorm is, in one area, without precedent. According to CAL FIRE, the month-long siege of fires has swallowed up nearly 850,000 acres, surpassing the 2003 Southern California Firestorm, which officially consumed about 650,000 acres. All but 80 of the more than 2,000 fires have been contained.
A break in the scorching heat and low humidity in Northern California has allowed firefighters to get an upper hand on the firestorm that has gripped it for the last month. Nearly 85% of all of the state's fires have been contained, tthe same rain that helped with the firefighting effort also created flash flooding in areas damaged by fires in 2007.
Officials have officially declared that nine people died in the crash of a firefighting helicopter on the Iron Complex in Trinity County. The nine -- a USFS official, one of the pilots and eight private firefighters -- were on board a Sikorsky S-61 firefighting helicopter when it went down Tuesday evening near the 18,000-acre Buckhorn Fire. Four other individuals have been hospitalized, and one remain in critical condition.