Wildfire kills 2 in Northern California


A wildfire has killed two people in Northern California, the Siskayou County Sheriff's Department said Sunday. The Mill Fire broke out about 280 miles north of San Francisco in the town of Weed on Friday, and burned more than 4,000 acres in two days.
Cal Fire said in a preliminary damage report that at least 123 structures had been affected, and 50 destroyed. Fire crews had the fire 25 percent contained by late Sunday, and were preparing to let some residents who evacuated go home. Another blaze, the Mountain Fire, that started 15 miles to the west near the city of Gazelle burned more than 8,000 acres and was 10 percent contained as of late Sunday.
Separately, a severe heat wave hit parts of Southern California with record temperatures over the weekend, increasing the risk of power outages and fires on the Labor Day holiday. Highs were expected to reach 105 to 110 degrees Fahrenheit across parts of the San Fernando, San Gabriel, and Santa Clarita valleys, the Los Angeles Times reports.
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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.
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