Jul 14, 2008 11:27 am US/Pacific
Rain, Slides Complicate California Wildfire Battle
INDEPENDENCE (CBS 5 / AP / BCN) ―
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Mudslide conditions near Lake Isabella after heavy rain in the Sierra Nevada.
NNS
More heavy rain was forecast Monday in parts of California after weekend downpours triggered mudslides that complicated the state's unfolding wildfire disaster.
"If it isn't fire, it's flood. If it isn't fire or flood, it's the mud," said Christina Lilienthal, an interagency fire spokeswoman.
Inyo County
A large cleanup effort was underway Monday, after a weekend mudslide on fire-scarred land forced residents in an eastern Sierra Nevada town to evacuate their homes.
The mudslide, in an area that was devastated by wildfires last year, damaged about 50 homes and caused the temporary closure of a main road in the town of Independence, about 90 miles east of Fresno.
Severe thunderstorms set off the slide 300 yards wide and up to three feet deep, said Carma Roper, spokeswoman for the Inyo County Sheriff's Department.
The mud oozed across state Highway 395, prompting a detour, and some mud came within a half mile of the Los Angeles Aqueduct, which supplies much of Los Angeles' water.
On Monday, the California Highway Patrol had reopened one lane, escorting vehicles through the affected mile-and-a-half stretch of highway.
Kern County
The rain also caused some problems for the area around the Piute Fire, which has charred the Sequoia National Forest for the past three weeks.
The moisture helped calm the flames, but contributed to flooding in Lake Isabella, located in a canyon in the southern Sierra Nevada.
While officials planned to lift the last of the fire evacuations related to that blaze, evacuation orders remained for 75 Lake Isabella homes threatened by flooding.
The Piute fire was 68 percent contained after burning 57 square acres.
Butte County
There was no precipitation in Butte County, north of Sacramento. Milder weather there allowed officials to lift evacuation orders in the fire-ravaged towns of Paradise and Concow.
The Butte Lightning Complex Fires, which burned 83 square miles and destroyed 50 homes in the area, weren't threatening any homes Monday morning, but firefighters were watching for flare-ups as hotter weather was expected to return in the afternoon. The complex was about 70 percent contained, officials said.
"There's still fire activity and there's still firefighters doing a lot of work, but the winds have not picked up. The last few days have been very very good for firefighters, they've been able to get a handle fire because of that," said John Welsh, a spokesman for the state fire department in Butte County.
At least one person was found dead after the blaze swept through Concow. Officials have not released the person's identity, and the cause of death had not been determined.
Monterey County
On the Central California coast, a massive fire in the Los Padres National Forest was about 61 percent contained after scorching 187 square miles or 119,728 acres.
The improved conditions allowed officials Sunday night to reopen the entire stretch of state Highway 1 in Monterey County that had been closed due to the Basin Complex Fire.
Businesses in the tourist town of Big Sur were also back open after nearly three weeks of evacuations.
The fire has cost about $45 million to fight and is not expected to be fully contained until the end of the month. About 27 residences were destroyed as well as another 32 other structures.
Santa Barbara County
Farther south, another wildfire in Los Padres forest near Santa Barbara County also saw progress with more favorable weather.
Fire crews had contained 90 percent of the Gap Fire and expected to complete the containment lines on Wednesday, U.S. Forest Service spokesman David Daniels said.
Fifty-five homes remained under evacuation warning. "We're starting to get close," Daniels said.
Mendocino County
The cooler weather following a punishing heat wave was good news to crews on the firelines in Mendocino County.
More than 2,000 firefighters made steady progress over the weekend against the many wildfires raging throughout the county.
Cal Fire spokeswoman Jan Smith said with the fog and coastal influences coming into play, things were looking up in the battle to beat back the flames.
About 38 of the 127 Mendocino County fires ignited by lightning were still burning, and were an average of about 65-percent contained.
Other Fires
In far Northern California, the Trinity County Sheriff's Department ordered evacuations in sparsely populated communities in the mountains west of Redding.
Meantime, a pair of blazes burning in the foothills west of Lake Tahoe were sending plumes of smoke toward the alpine resort area. The soot was sporadic, but air quality was so bad it prompted the cancellation of the annual Donner Lake Triathlon.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said 288 blazes were still burning around the state, most of them in the mountains ringing the northern edge of the Central Valley.
So far this fire season, flames have blackened nearly 1,300 square miles and destroyed about 100 homes across California. Most of the blazes were sparked by a June 21 lightning storm across the northern part of the state.
Cal Fire updates on all the major blazes burning throughout the state are available online at: http://cdfdata.fire.ca.gov/incidents/incidents_current.
(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. The Associated Press and Bay City News contributed to this report.)
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