Wildfires raged unchecked across parts of the Western US on Wednesday, with gusty winds forecast to drive flames into new ferocity.
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In California, Diablo winds in the north and Santa Ana winds in the south were stoking unprecedented numbers of fires that have already grown explosively. In Washington, more acres burned in a single day than firefighters usually see all year. Fires also forced people to flee in Oregon and Idaho.
A temperature plunge of as much as 60 degrees helped contain wildfires that spread in Colorado and Montana in the hot, windy weather. But no such respite was in the immediate forecast for California.
On Tuesday, 14 firefighters were forced to deploy emergency shelters as flames overtook them and destroyed the Nacimiento Station, a fire station in the Los Padres National Forest on the state's central coast, the US Forest Service said. They suffered from burns and smoke inhalation, and three were flown to a hospital in Fresno, where one was in critical condition.
In the past two days, helicopters were used to rescue hundreds of people stranded in the burning Sierra National Forest, where the Creek Fire has destroyed 365 buildings, including at least 45 homes, and 5,000 structures were threatened, fire officials said.
Flames threatened the foothill community of Auberry between Shaver Lake and Fresno.
A team of Israeli firefighters has also been helping combat the fires that are engulfing huge swathes of the state.
The Israeli delegation, which includes rescue workers and experts in forest and brush fires, as well as Foreign Ministry representatives, is expected to spend some two weeks helping.
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