California wildfire threatens to cut off rural community

A spreading wildfire threatened early Monday to cut off access to a rural community in northern California, where authorities ordered the evacuation of around 2,500 residents.

Erratic winds and high temperatures were fueling the Pawnee Fire in the Spring Valley region about 100 miles (160 km)northwest of Sacramento.

The blaze had jumped the single road leading to the mainly residential community in a couple of places, said Dale Carnathan, emergency services manager for the Lake County Sheriff’s Office said. Some locals were refusing to evacuate, he added.

More than 230 firefighters were deployed to tackle the blaze, which had burned 7,700 acres, destroyed 12 houses and threatened around 600 other buildings, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said.

The Pawnee fire is one of several burning in California, and parts of the state were on high alert on Sunday for conditions that can lead to fires.

Reporting by Letitia Stein in Tampa, Florida and Rich McKay in Atlanta; Editing by Richard Chang and by John Stonestreet