California Fires Largest In State History

More than 14,000 firefighters and hundreds of US army personnel are trying to contain two of the largest wildfires in state history. Officials say the Mendocino Complex Fire, which is made up of two nearby fires being treated as the same incident, has surpassed last year’s Thomas Fire to become the largest in state history. The Mendocino Complex fire encompasses an area 443 square miles. This is larger than New York City, which is 306 square miles and half the size of the entire state of Rhode Island. In southern California, hero’s are battling the Holy Fire. The Holy Fire broke out Monday at the Holy Jim Canyon community and has forced some 20,000 people to evacuate. A suspect has been arrested and charged with felony arson in the Holy fire. Forrest Gordon Clark, 51, was arrested on suspicion of setting off a blaze that has now burned nearly 10,000 acres in Orange and Riverside counties,  and damaging or destroying at least 15 structures. In addition to arson, the Orange County District Attorney charged Clark with two felony counts of resisting arrest and with making criminal threats. According to the Orange County Register, Clark sent an email last week that allegedly said, “This place will burn.’’  He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. Bail has been set at $1 million. In addition to state and out of state fire fighters, California has put prison inmates on the front lines to help in the effort. Professional firefighters are working alongside prison inmates with one key difference, how much they are paid. Inmates make only $2 a day plus $1 an hour. The number of inmates fighting fires varies but with numerous fires burning simultaneously,  there are about 3,800 state prison inmates who are minimum-custody inmates deemed a low safety risk fighting fires. That’s about 7 percent of the 9,500 firefighters working those fires. Not all people are happy about using inmates. Former Richmond mayor Gayle McLaughlin, who is now running for lieutenant governor, has been the biggest critic. “No matter how you may want to dress it up, if you have people working for nothing or almost nothing, you’ve got slave labor, and it is not acceptable.” Five fire fighters have been killed so far this season. This has been the deadliest year for fire fighters since 2008. In 2008 thirteen heroes lost their lives battling wild fires. Forecasters said that increasing winds blowing in from the ocean should within the next fews days clear out much of the smoke now hanging over the region. “The overall trend going into the weekend is for improving conditions,” said Charley Knoderer, supervising meteorologist for the Bay Area Air Quality Management District in San Francisco. “It’s a little bit of good news for now.”