A California wildfire known as the Sand Fire after it closed Sand Ridge Road was sparked on Friday, and over the weekend it forced numerous evacuations as it burned down 13 homes east of Sacramento.
The Weather Channel reported Monday that firefighters were still battling the wildfire, which has consumed 4,000 acres thus far. The blaze was said to have been started when a car drove over brush that was bone-dry due to the state's intense drought — the worst on record by a number of metrics.
On Sunday, Lynne Tolmachoff, spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection,
told The Los Angeles Times the fire was 35 percent contained. Roughly 1,900 firefighters were helping contain the blaze, with some fighting on the ground and some fighting from the air.
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Ponderosa High School in Shingle Springs has been temporarily turned into a Red Cross center, and roughly 1,200 people from 500 homes are currently sheltering there.
Making matters worse, state fire officials are simultaneously combating a fire in nearby Yosemite National Park.
"We're working aggressively to get the fire out," said park spokesman Scott Gediman. "We have steep, rugged terrain and hot, dry conditions. It's supposed to be over 100 here today," he noted, listing the challenges they face in stopping the fire. On Sunday, the fire was still not contained, and there was still no word on how long even partial containment might take.
On Monday,
The Huffington Post reported via The Associated Press that Washington, Oregon, Colorado, and Utah were also fighting one or more fires. Washington's Carlton Complex fire was especially notable as it broke records as the state's biggest.
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