A pilot was killed when he crashed his helicopter while fighting catastrophic wildfires in California — with the impact igniting a 50-acre blaze on top of the one he was battling.
The tragic news came as 22,000 people in the state were forced to evacuate their homes as a state of emergency was declared.
The unidentified pilot of the Bell UH-1H helicopter, who was the only person on board, crashed during a water dropping mission over the Hills Fire in western Fresno County, about nine miles south of Coalinga.
The resulting explosion reportedly sparked a new fire that burned across 50 acres before merging with the original blaze the chopper had been trying to subdue.
Hundreds of fires have been burning across California, including 23 major infernos or groups of fires that have been blamed on a blistering heat wave and lightning strikes.
The stricken state has recorded nearly 11,000 lightning strikes in 72 hours and 367 fires.
These stretch from Napa, Sonoma, San Mateo and Contra Costa counties and have triggered rolling power blackouts and unhealthy air quality across the region.
The mass power outages came as people cranked up their air conditioners to deal with the extreme heat.
Death Valley reportedly got up to 130F on Sunday, which, if it’s confirmed, will be the highest air temperature ever recorded.
Across the West nearly 45 million people are under heat warnings and advisories.
The dangerous temperatures and wildfire disaster has prompted Gov. Gavin Newsom to declare a state of emergency.
At least five people were injured in a fire in Stanislaus County, southeast of San Francisco, Sheriff Jeff Dirkse told the Sacramento Bee.
One had major burn injuries and all were taken by ambulance for treatment, he said.
Someone evacuating had reported that workers at an illegal marijuana farm were still at the ranch but he couldn’t confirm if any were among the patients.
State officials warned that five million people could lose power but said cuts could be avoided if homes and businesses scale back their energy use.
Outages began at 5pm local time yesterday as record-breaking heat pushed the power grid to the brink of collapse.
Grid operators decided against cutting power to 10 million homes on Monday after residents cut back on their electricity use in a direct response to the crisis.
Government officials also made personal phone calls to refineries and other businesses to ask them to reduce their power consumption, reports Bloomberg.
Blackouts were a way of preventing “demand exceeding supply” and ensuring “there’s not a widespread system collapse”, an official told Deadline News.
Source: UK Sun
