(20 Jul 2021) FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4336217
In Northern California, authorities have expanded evacuations on the Tamarack Fire in Alpine County in the Sierra Nevada to include the mountain town of Mesa Vista.
Started by lightning and fanned by high winds, the fire exploded over the weekend and has burned more than 60 square miles.
It's threatening the small town of Markleeville and, as of Tuesday afternoon, it still had no containment. Near constant helicopter water drops could be seen as crews on the ground cut down dead trees and attempting to build containment lines.
Sixty-three-year-old Tony Galvez, a maintenance worker at Grover Hot Springs State Park, lost his home in the fire. He said the house was located on state park land.
Galvez was able to escape with his teenage daughter. His wife and two of their other children are out of state on vacation. He said, for now, his family will stay at his co-worker's place a few towns over.
On Tuesday, Galvez stood outside the police checkpoint leading into his neighborhood and clapped for firefighters as they drove by. He also spoke on the phone to his oldest daughter who lives in Vermont. She's setting up an online fundraiser for her father.
It's not yet known how many homes have burned in the fire so far but Galvez said he believes only a few homes, including his, have been destroyed.
Also waiting outside the evacuation zone was 70-year-old John Bradshaw, a retired highway engineer, who was evacuated from his Woodfords home. He had yet to hear if his home was still standing.
According to the California Office of Emergency Services, more than 700 people remain evacuated from the fire and more than one thousand firefighters have been assigned to the blaze.
Smoke from the fire has poured into nearby Carson City, Reno and South Lake Tahoe.
The Tamarack Fire was one of many fires burning in a dozen states, most of them in the U.S. West.
Extremely dry conditions and heat waves tied to climate change have made wildfires harder to fight. Climate change has made the West much warmer and drier in the past 30 years and will continue to make weather more extreme and wildfires more frequent and destructive.
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