COBB, Calif.— An explosive wildfire raced across several rural communities in Northern California, charring more than 60 square miles over a matter of hours, chasing thousands of people from their homes and sending four firefighters to the hospital with second-degree burns.
The fire erupted in Lake County, about 100 miles north of San Francisco, Saturday afternoon and rapidly chewed through brush and trees parched from several years of drought, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said. An unconfirmed number of structures were destroyed. Entire towns as well as residents along a 35-mile stretch of highway were evacuated.
The firefighters, all members of a helicopter crew, were airlifted to a hospital burn unit, where they were listed in stable condition, department spokesman Daniel Berlant said.
To the east, firefighters battled a blaze about 70 miles southeast of Sacramento that exploded to more than 101 square miles in four days, turning the grassy, tree-studded Sierra Nevada foothills an eerie white.
Crews increased containment to 20 percent by early Sunday.
