Wildfires rage above California's Big Sur coast
Date: 17-Sep-99
Country: USA
Officials at the U.S. Forest Service said on Thursday that as many as
2,000 firefighters were battling a string of lightning-sparked blazes in
the Los Padres National Forest about 150 miles (240 km) south of San
Francisco.
"It is really difficult terrain," said Joanna Guttman, a USFS
spokeswoman. "There is not much in the way of natural barriers that can
help us out there. It is all very steep mountains and very thick brush."
Officials asked a handful of residents of the tiny resort community of
Tassjara Hot Springs to evacuate late on Wednesday, and several ranches
were also in the path of the fire, which was moving fast through stands
of oak and pine and dry high chaparral brush.
Officials were also completing preparations to evacuate a group of rare
California condor chicks from a rearing facility in the Ventana
Wilderness area, part of a programme to reintroduce the giant birds into
their natural habitat.
Jane Hendron of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said a temporary
shelter was built for the chicks, which were not yet capable of flight,
but it had not become necessary to move the animals.
"If they feel there is any danger, they are to go and remove them,"
Hendron said. "We have a temporary site selected to take the birds if
necessary."
Hendron said the fires would not affect the 49 adult California condors
already flying free in the wild, saying wildfires were a part of their
natural habitat.
"We have had plenty of forest fires throughout the current range of the
reintroduced birds," Hendron said. "They can fly away from fire. They
are smart enough ... that is part of life in the wild."
