Yucca Wildfire Heads Toward National Forest
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YUCCA VALLEY, Calif. — A wildfire that has already burned 40,000 acres and destroyed 100 buildings roared through high desert wilderness yesterday, threatening to merge with a 1,200-acre fire in national forest land filled with dead, dry trees.
“If it starts in there it will be almost impossible to stop,” a California Department of Forestry spokeswoman. Karen Guillemin, said of the fire edging toward San Bernardino National Forest.
The fire, ignited by weekend lightning, destroyed 42 houses, 55 other buildings and 91 vehicles in and around Yucca Valley, about 100 miles east of Los Angeles, authorities said.
About 1,350 firefighters were battling the larger fire in triple-digit temperatures and strong wind gusts. Nine firefighters and two civilians were treated for minor burns or smoke inhalation.
Elsewhere in the West, several new wildfires in southern Montana spread quickly — one to an estimated 10,000 acres — because of windy weather.
There also was a 3,150-acre wildfire west of Columbus, and another burning north of Pompeys Pillar that was estimated at 10,000 acres, a spokeswoman with the Bureau of Land Management, Mary Apple, said.
