United States: A major highway in Southern California was closed on Wednesday after a brush fire broke out as well as quickly grew during the first day of an extreme heat wave, according to the officials.
On a Wednesday night, no structures had been destroyed in the Route Fire near Castaic, on the north side of Los Angeles, but the fire was over 4,600 acres, as well as Route in the United States of America-Interstate 5 was closed in both directions.
According to Los Angeles County Fire Capt. Sheila Kelliher Berkoh, the fire started at midday and spread east of I-5 while most of California was under a heat advisory. There was no mention of confinement.
The National Weather Service reports that on Wednesday, just before 2 p.m., temperatures of 109 degrees were measured in the region.
As per the Los Angeles County Deputy Fire Chief-Tom Ewald, the first day in a nine to a ten-day stretch of relatively high heat has already passed.
“The people out there are really taking a battering,” he added. “If you can imagine wearing heavy firefighting gear, carrying packs, hauling hose, swinging equipment.”
According to Ewald, eight firemen sustained heat-related injuries, and six of them were brought to hospitals. They are in good shape.
According to Kelliher Berkoh, the fire was being fought by more than 350 firefighters from Los Angeles County, the United States Forest Service as well as 15 aircraft on Wednesday.
