LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Local firefighters are among the thousands who are fighting major wildland fires around the state.
An estimated 7,500 firefighters were working on seven major wildland fire incidents around California on Monday, according to Cal Fire.
Cal Fire said a majority of the large wildfires in California are burning on federal land, however, Cal Fire and local fire agencies are continuing to support the US Forest Service in firefighting efforts.
The state's largest fire this year – and the fourth largest in its history – is the Rim Fire, burning in and around Yosemite National Park since Aug. 17.
Late Monday, Cal Fire said the Rim Fire was at 235,841 acres – or 368 square miles – and 70 percent contained. The firefighting effort to date has cost $72 million.
There are 4,500 structures threatened, with 11 residences, three commercial buildings and 97 outbuildings destroyed so far, according to Cal Fire.
On Monday, 4,330 firefighters were working on the Rim Fire, Cal Fire reported.
Lakeport Fire Chief Ken Wells, the county's operational area coordinator for emergency mobilization, said one state Office of Emergency Services engine housed at South Lake County Fire in Middletown was sent to the Rim Fire.
The state allows districts to have such engines and use them on a daily basis, with the stipulation that they must be staffed around the clock, every day of the year with four people, and ready to respond to major incidents around the state when called, Wells said.
Wells said that engine from Middletown joined forces with four other engines from out of the area to form a strike team that headed south to work on the Rim Fire.
The engine was assigned on Aug. 23 and was expected to be there for a 14-day assignment, he said. Those firefighters should return later this week.
Wells said Jamie Crabtree, a Northshore Fire battalion chief, was assigned on Aug. 22 to the Corral Complex in Humboldt County, where he's working as a division group supervisor, also on a two-week assignment.
The lightning-caused Corral Fire, burning since Aug. 9, had burned 11,924 acres and was 49 percent contained last Monday, according to the Six Rivers National Forest.
Cal Fire said much of Northern California will experience cooler temperatures and potentially some light rainfall in some areas this week.
By mid-week, a drying trend is likely along with very gusty winds, which Cal Fire said will increase the fire danger.
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