Officials have found human remains in a burned-out home in Mendocino county, California, marking the first death in the state’s 2024 wildfire season.
The local coroner’s office is working to identify the body, but it may be that of a 66-year-old woman whose family reported her missing. The California department of forestry and fire protection, known as Cal Fire, confirmed the discovery of the remains on Friday.
The so-called Mina fire, which broke out on Monday, was fueled by strong winds and has burned nearly 100 acres, but is now 70% contained, according to Cal Fire data.
California’s wildfire season has kicked into high gear in recent weeks, with firefighters battling multiple blazes up and down the state. Earlier this week, California’s top wildfire official revealed that more than 3,500 wildfires have already burned nearly 220,000 acres – more than five times the average for this time of year.
“We are not just in a fire season, but we are in a fire year,” Joe Tyler, the director of Cal Fire, said at a news conference.
California’s fires began in earnest in early June, following back-to-back wet winters that pulled the state out of drought but spawned abundant grasses that have since dried out.
Authorities across the US west have warned of the rising risk of wildfires amid a protracted heat wave that has dried out the landscape, set temperature records and put lives at risk.
In Arizona, at least nine homes on San Carlos Apache reservation about two hours east of Phoenix had been destroyed by the blaze known as the Watch fire, but no injuries of deaths have been reported, said Robyn Broyles, a spokesperson for the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
The fire was at 0% containment on Friday, she said, and was burning in an area of the reservation blanketed by thick shrubs and cottonwood trees. Officials said the fire began on Thursday afternoon and spilled into the downtown area of the reservation that, according to US Census Bureau data, is home to about 10,200 people.
And in Hawaii, Haleakala national park on Maui was closed as firefighters battled a blaze on the slopes of the mountain. No homes were immediately threatened, but some residents were told to prepare for possible evacuations.
The blaze is several miles from an area where 26 structures burned during deadly wind-driven wildfires on Maui last August.
“But the residents who lost homes are scared,” said Yuki Lei Sugimura, who represents the area on the Maui county council. “It’s like PTSD.”
More than 51 million people around the US remained under heat alerts on Friday, a significant reduction from earlier this week as temperatures began to cool in some areas.
The hight temperatures have proved deadly, with authorities in Oregon now suspecting heat in the deaths of at least 14 people. And in the California county of Santa Clara, authorities are investigating at least 19 potential heat-related deaths.
Read more on wildfires and heat in the US
