Mobile homes burn in California, medical emergencies cited
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Firefighters work to contain a wildfire burning off Merrill Dr. in Moraga, Calif. Police have ordered evacuations as the fast-moving wildfire spread in the hills of the San Francisco Bay Area community. The area is without power after Pacific Gas & Electric preemptively cut service hoping to prevent wildfires during dry, windy conditions throughout Northern California.
KABC-TV VIA AP
This photo from video provided by KABC-TV shows Strong, gusting winds push flames through the Villa Calimesa mobile home park in Calimesa, Calif., southeast of San Bernardino. Multiple residences have burned in the fire, that started shortly afternoon.
CALIMESA, CALIF. >> A mobile home community burned today, resulting in “numerous medical emergencies” as a wildfire rapidly spread in Southern California, one of several blazes statewide fed by hot, dry winds, officials said.
The fire erupted in the Calimesa area of Riverside County and quickly destroyed about two dozen homes as crews with air support scrambled to contain it.
The cause was not known, and the area was not listed among the latest communities where Southern California Edison has cut power in an effort to prevent wildfires caused by windblown wires.
A county fire department statement reported “numerous medical emergencies” at Villa Calimesa Mobile Home Park about 75 miles (120 kilometers) east of downtown Los Angeles. Further details were not provided.
Maryanne Fiske was part of a crowd in a restaurant parking lot awaiting word on whether their relatives at Villa Calimesa were safe.
“There was another lady over here who was really upset, who could see her mobile home on fire,” Fiske told KABC-TV.
Students sheltered in place as smoke enveloped nearby Mesa View Middle School before buses arrived and evacuated them to another school outside the fire zone.
The blaze is one of several that have broken out since winds developed.
Two of the state’s utilities shut off power to millions of residents as a precaution so their equipment won’t spark fires.
Just to the west of Calimesa, firefighters contained a blaze that damaged two homes near Fontana. It was not immediately clear whether the power outage included the location where the fire broke out.
In Northern California, a fire burning on San Bruno Mountains south of San Francisco was 60 percent contained.
