Gusty winds pose continued wildfire threats in California

 Wildfires rd unchecked throughout California Wednesday, and gusty winds could drive flames into new ferocity, authorities warned.

Diablo winds in rth and Santa Ana winds in south were forecast into Wednesday at a time when existing wildfires already have grown explosively.

On Tuesday, 14 firefighters were forced to deploy emergency shelters as flames overtook m and destroyed Nacimiento Station, a fire station in Los Padres National Forest on state’s central coast, U.S. Forest Service said. y suffered from burns and smoke inhalation, and three were flown to a hospital in Fres, where one was in critical condition.

In past two days, helicopters were used to rescue hundreds of people stranded in burning Sierra National Forest, where Creek Fire has destroyed 365 buildings, including at least 45 homes, and 5,000 structures were threatened, fire officials said.

Flames threatened foothill community of Auberry between Shaver Lake and Fres.

In Sourn California, fires burned in Los Angeles, San Bernardi and San Diego counties, and forecast called for arrival of region’s torious Santa Anas. hot, dry winds could reach 50 mph at times, forecasters said.

People in a half-dozen foothill communities east of Los Angeles were being told to stay alert because of a fire in Angeles National Forest.

“ combination of gusty winds, very dry air, and dry vegetation will create critical fire danger," National Wear Service warned.

U.S. Forest Service on Monday decided to close all eight national forests in sourn half of state and shutter campgrounds statewide.

More than 14,000 firefighters are battling fires. Two of three largest blazes in state history are burning in San Francisco Bay Area, though y are largely contained after burning three weeks.

California has already set a record with nearly 2.3 million acres (930,800 hectares) burned this year — surpassing a record set just two years ago — and worst part of wildfire season is just beginning.

“It’s extraordinary, challenge that we’ve faced so far this season,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said.

threat of winds tearing down power lines or hurling debris into m and sparking a wildfire prompted Pacific Gas & Electric, state's largest utility, to shut off power to 172,000 customers over weekend. More outs were expected Wednesday, with power t expected to be completely restored until Wednesday night.

To south, Sourn California Edison warned roughly 55,000 customer accounts may lose power while San Diego Gas & Electric said 16,700 customers are at risk of a preemptive out.

In Sierra National Forest east of Fres, dozens of campers and hikers were stranded at Vermilion Valley Resort after only road in — a narrow route snaking along a steep cliff — was closed Sunday because of Creek Fire.

Well before dawn Tuesday, sound of helicopter blades chopping through air awoke Katelyn Mueller, bringing relief after two anxious nights camping in smoke.

“It was probably one time you’re excited to hear a helicopter,” Mueller said. “You could almost feel a sigh of relief seeing it come in.”

use of military helicopters to rescue a large number of civilians for a second day — 164 before dawn Tuesday and 214 people from a wooded camping area on Saturday — is rare, if t unprecedented.

“This is emblematic of how fast that fire was moving, plus physical geography of that environment with one road in and one road out," said Char Miller, a professor of environmental analysis at Pomona College who has written extensively about wildfires. “Unless you wanted an absolute human disaster, you had to move fast.”

Numerous studies in recent years have linked bigger wildfires in America to global warming from burning of coal, oil and gas, especially because climate change has made California much drier. A drier California means plants are more flammable.

“ frequency of extreme wild fire wear has doubled in California over past four decades, with main driver being effect of rising temperature on dry fuels, meaning that fuel loads are w frequently at record or near-record levels when ignition occurs and when strong winds blow,” Stanford University climate scientist ah Diffenbaugh said in an email.