Campgrounds evacuated near Central California wildfire
FRESNO, Calif. -- Campgrounds have been evacuated near a Central California wildfire that has chewed through more than two square miles of dry timber in Sierra National Forest, one of several blazes burning across the state.
The fire in a rural area of Madera County was just 5 percent contained late Sunday. Officials say about 450 structures in the tiny wooded communities of Bass Lake and Cascadel Woods are threatened. Residents have been notified to prepare to evacuate.
To the north, four firefighters were burned Sunday while battling a wildfire that threatens 150 homes in the Sierra Nevada foothills. All are expected to recover.
The fire erupted Saturday 45 miles northeast of Sacramento. The area is rural, rugged and steep with homes scattered throughout the trees.
Vacationers near Bass Lake were forced to flee as white smoke billowed in the air nearby, reports CBS News correspondent John Blackstone. The fast moving fire erupted without warning in the dry Sierra Mountains northeast of Sacramento.
100 miles north, outside Reno, fire crews used chainsaws and bulldozers to clear brush and roads to reach a fire that has already burned through two square miles. At one point, fire choppers had to be grounded because the some was so thick.
"It is like PTSD. There is so much fire all the time," said one woman. "You see someone throw a cigarette out the window and you want to strangle them."
Meanwhile, a wildfire near Napa Valley wine country is 70 percent contained.