Residents Urged to Evacuate as Southern California Fire Burns 9,900 Acres, Only 5 Percent Contained
Officials are urging residents to evacuate as the Fairview Fire in Hemet, California, is still fiercely expanding, with 9,846 acres burned and only 5 percent containment as of 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 7.
“Unfortunately, the fire continued to outpace our efforts,” Josh Janssen, battalion chief of Riverside County Fire Department, said during an early morning press conference Wednesday. “We took an operational flight of the fire at about 2 p.m. [Sept. 6], and it was clear the fire was outpacing our ground and air resources.”
All previous evacuation orders and warnings remain in place as firefighters are struggling since Sept. 5 with slowing down the spread of the blaze, which Janssen said was burning “in all directions on all flanks.”…