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.
ANDREW SELSKY I Associated Press
Members of the right-wing group the Proud Boys arrive in
Salem, Ore., on Monday Sept. 7, for a rally at the Capitol.
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