Sacramento Area Local News

SACRAMENTO (AP) ― A record-dry spring has left grass, brush and trees ready to burst into flames that can then be spread by the high winds, firefighters said.

Wildfires damaged dozens of homes and thousands of acres across Northern California Tuesday. Flames destroyed 32 homes in Stockton and 21 homes in Palermo, about 60 miles north of Sacramento. Other blazes are burning near the coast in Monterey and Sonoma counties, while firefighters had contained dozens of smaller fires.

Slowing winds and cooler overnight temperatures had helped firefighters get a handle on the blazes, but Wednesday saw low humidity and wind gusts of up to 40 mph in some fire zones, said Cyndi Wilson, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

About 275 homes remained threatened near Palermo a day after fire swept through the town of 5,000 people south of Oroville. About 12 residents spent the night at an evacuation center established at Oroville's Church of the Nazarene, church secretary Tina Brandt said.

"I grabbed a few pieces of clothing, my purse. My daughter grabbed her important papers and some clothing, whatever we could put in the car, and we left," recalled Debbie Buchman in a telephone interview from the shelter. "We were hoping we would still have a home when we got back, but we didn't."

Buchman, her 21-year-old daughter and 4-year-old granddaughter were getting aid from church members and the Red Cross after losing their three-bedroom rural rented home to Tuesday's flames.

"The whole house was burnt to the ground, with everything we own," Buchman said. "It's pretty rough."

But she was thankful that no one was injured and was looking forward to a chance to "start fresh."

"We're hoping for the best but preparing for the worst," said Consumnes Fire District Chief Steve Foster, whose agency helped fight the Sacramento grass fire Tuesday and a separate haystack fire Wednesday. "We are in extreme fire conditions and it's only early summer."

The state activated contracts with private companies to use DC-10 and DC-7 large air tankers. More than 1,200 state firefighters were working alongside hundreds of local firefighters across the north state. Seven air tankers and eight helicopters were dumping water and fire retardant on flareups.

"Time and again, our history has demonstrated that we must move early, have the resources available and work together to fight these fires and keep people safe," Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said in a statement. "My heart goes out to the three CAL FIRE firefighters who have been injured."

Other fires burning in Northern California on Wednesday included:

-- A 860-acre fire near Cloverdale in Sonoma County that was 80 percent contained.

-- A 1,200-acre fire near Highway 132 and Don Pedro Reservoir in Tuolumne County that was 30 percent contained.

-- A 4,200 acre fire in the Los Padres National Forest in Monterey County that was 10 percent contained. About 15 summer cabins in the Santa Lucia Tract remain evacuated as a precaution.

The unusually severe and early fire season began with a wildfire last month that scorched more than 4,200 acres in the Santa Cruz Mountains. It destroyed at least three dozen homes between Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties, about 15 miles south of San Jose.

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