From correspondents in Los Angeles

July 10, 2008 03:54am
Article from: Agence France-Presse

MORE than 14,000 people have been evacuated from a northern California
town as hundreds of out-of-control wildfires continue to burn across the
state, officials say.

Wind-driven flames leapt over fire lines at a rural community near the
town of Paradise, 144km north of Sacramento and destroyed nearly 40
homes in the space of a few hours early yesterday, emergency services
said today.

Chuck Rough, director of the emergency operations centre in Paradise,
told CNN that although conditions eased overnight, firecrews battling
the 19,800-hectare blaze in Butte County were bracing for a heatwave.

"We're holding our breath literally and figuratively today,'' Mr  Rough
told CNN.

So far 14,000 of the 27,000 people in Paradise have been evacuated, Mr
Rough said. A total of 40 homes and 10 outbuildings have been destroyed
in fires near the town so far.

The blaze is one of 323 fires burning across California, part of a
firestorm of nearly 1,800 infernos that have erupted since June 20, when
lightning from thunderstorms set light to tinder-dry parkland.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said 1,458
fires had now been fully contained, while 18,900 personnel were deployed
across the state battling the fires still alight.

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