About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 9, 2020)
TODAYS TOP HEADLINES The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com Midweek Edition - September 9-10, 2020 3A It takes courage’ Firefighters overtaken by flames in California mountains NOAH BERGER I Associated Press Flames burn at a home leveled by the Creek Fire along Highway 168 on Tuesday, Sept. 8, in Fresno County, Calif. BY MARCIO JOSE SANCHEZ AND BRIAN MELLEY Associated Press SHAVER LAKE, Calif. — More than a dozen Cali fornia firefighters trying to protect a fire station in rugged mountains were overrun by flames Tues day, and several were hurt. Elsewhere, military helicop ters rescued more than 150 people stranded in a burning forest. Fourteen firefighters deployed emergency shel ters as flames overtook them and destroyed the Nacimiento Station in the Los Padres National Forest on the state’s central coast, the U.S. Forest Service said. They suffered from burns and smoke inhalation, and three were flown to a hospi tal in Fresno, where one was in critical condition. The injuries came as wind-driven flames of more than two dozen major fires chewed through bone-dry California and forced new evacuations after a scorch ing Labor Day weekend that saw a dramatic airlift of more than 200 people. Pilots wearing night- vision goggles to find a place to land before dawn pulled another 164 people from the Sierra National Forest and were working to rescue 17 others Tuesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom said. “It’s where training meets the moment, but it always takes the courage, the con viction and the grit of real people doing real work,” said Newsom, who called the fires historic. California has already set a record with nearly 2.3 million acres burned this year, and the worst part of the wildfire season is just beginning. The previous acreage record was set just two years ago and included the deadli est wildfire in state history, which was started by power lines and swept through the community of Paradise, kill ing 85 people. That 2018 blaze forced the state’s largest utility, Pacific Gas & Electric, to seek bank ruptcy protection and guard against new disasters by cutting power preemptively when fire conditions are exceptionally dangerous. The utility shut off power to 172,000 customers over the weekend and more outages were expected in Northern California as high and dry winds were expected until Wednesday. More than 14,000 fire fighters were battling fires around the state. Two of the largest blazes in state history are burning in the San Fran cisco Bay Area, though they are largely contained after burning three weeks. California was not alone: Hurricane-force winds and high temperatures kicked up wildfires across parts of the Pacific Northwest over the holiday weekend, burn ing hundreds of thousands of acres and mostly destroying the small town of Malden in eastern Washington. In Southern California, fires burned in Los Ange les, San Bernardino and San Diego counties, and the fore cast called for the arrival of the region’s notorious Santa Ana winds. The U.S. Forest Service on Monday decided to close all eight national for ests in the southern half of the state and shutter camp grounds statewide. In the Sierra National Forest east of Fresno, doz ens of campers and hikers were stranded at the Ver milion Valley Resort after the only road in — a narrow route snaking along a steep cliff — was closed Sunday because of the Creek Fire. Well before dawn Tues day, the sound of helicopter blades chopping through the air awoke Katelyn Mueller, bringing relief after two anxious nights camping in the smoke. “It was probably the one time you’re excited to hear a helicopter,” Mueller said. “You could almost feel a sigh of relief seeing it come in.” She and others had to abandon their vehicles and were flown to Fresno, where a friend picked her and three friends up for the drive back to San Diego. The fire had roared through the forest excep tionally quickly, advancing 15 miles in a single day over the holiday weekend. It has burned 212 square miles since starting Friday from an unknown origin. Forty- five homes and 20 other structures were confirmed destroyed so far. Cressman’s General Store, a gas station and popu lar stop for more than a cen tury near Shaver Lake, was a total loss. Flames threat ened the foothill community of Auberry between the lake and Fresno. The use of military heli copters to rescue a large number of civilians for a second day — after 214 people were lifted to safety after flames trapped them in a wooded camping area near Mammoth Pool Reser voir on Saturday—is rare, if not unprecedented. Char Miller, a professor of environmental analysis at Pomona College who has written extensively about wildfires, said he’s only seen rescues of this size during floods, when people need to be plucked from narrow canyons. Trump supporters rally near Portland and Ore. capitol BY ANDREW SELSKY Associated Press SALEM — Hundreds of people gathered Monday after noon in a small town south of Portland for a pro-President Donald Trump vehicle rally — just over a week after mem ber of a far-right group was fatally shot after a Trump cara van went through Oregon’s largest city. Later, pro-Trump supporters and counter-protesters clashed in Oregon’s capital city of Salem. Vehicles waving flags for Trump, the QAnon conspiracy theory and in support of police gathered at about noon at Clackamas Community College in Oregon City. The rally’s organizers said they would drive to toward Salem and most left the caravan before that. A smaller group of members of the right-wing group the Proud Boys went on to Salem, where a crowd of several dozen pro-Trump support ers had gathered. At one point Monday afternoon, the right-wing crowd rushed a smaller group of Black Lives Matters counter-dem onstrators, firing paint-gun pellets at them. After unfolding a large American flag on the steps of the Capitol, right-wing protesters charged again, leaving sev eral counter-protesters injured. Police then stepped in and arrested two right-wing protesters. Organizers of the earlier vehicle rally in Oregon City said they did not plan to enter Multnomah County, where Portland is located. Oregon City is about 20 miles south of Portland. In Portland on Monday, Black Lives Matter supporters ral lied in a city park and demonstrated peacefully, KOIN TV reported. “Teacher unions are part of the labor movement, and I feel like it’s really important for people who are members of a union to step up and say, ‘Our labor supports Black Lives Matter and we are ready to organize in support of systemic change,’ “ educator Joanne Shepard told the TV station. On Aug. 29 Aaron “Jay” Danielson, a supporter of the right-wing group Patriot Prayer, was killed in Portland after a pro-Trump caravan went downtown. Trump supporters fired paint ball canisters at counter-demonstrators, who tried to block their way. Danielson’s suspected killer, Michael Forest Reinoehl, was fatally shot by police Thursday. Reinoehl was a sup porter of antifa — shorthand for anti-fascists. 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