Guard Called to Fight California Fires

FRESNO, California - Weary crews battling blazes across northern and central California soon will get some help from the National Guard, the first time the state's troops have have been called to ground-based firefighting duty since 1977.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday ordered 200 guardsmen to report for fire training to begin assisting on the fire lines early next week. The extra hands are expected to boost the nearly 19,000 personnel currently fighting the fires.

"I think that they all are doing a great job, but the danger is that our firefighters get stretched thin," the governor said.

Schwarzenegger and the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, David Paulison, planned to visit Big Sur on Wednesday for a briefing on firefighting efforts in that hard-hit tourist region.

The governor planned to issue an executive order Wednesday that waives replacement fees for birth certificates, driver's licenses and other critical documents that fire victims may have lost. The order also aims to accelerate debris removal and repair environmental damage by "cutting red tape," and asks state tax authorities to help victims file tax extensions.

The governor's office said this is the first time since 1977 that California's National Guard troops have been sent to the fire lines. However, guard troops have helped in traffic control and other duties since then, and Air National Guard units have already been assisting firefighting efforts in California and elsewhere this summer.

Drought conditions, high temperatures and a series of lightning storms have contributed to about 680 square miles (1,760 square kilometers) being scorched statewide by more than 1,400 separate fires in the past two weeks.

The blazes have destroyed 60 homes and other buildings while threatening thousands more, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

In the Big Sur region of the Los Padres National Forest, about 200 people along a roughly 15-mile (24-kilometer) stretch of Highway 1 were ordered to leave their homes and businesses.

Evacuation orders also remained in place for occupants of at least 75 homes who were forced to leave the region last week, as an 81 square mile (210 square kilometer) blaze burning through uninhabited forest land moved closer.

The two huge blazes burning near storied Big Sur did not expand overnight, Los Padres National Forest spokeswoman Karen McKinley said Wednesday.

Firefighters are projecting they can have the larger of the two fires contained by the end of the week. The smaller one, which has pushed toward the coast and threatened the town of Big Sur, is not expected to be encircled until July 30, she said.

In Southern California, a fire in the southern extension of the Los Padres forest prompted mandatory evacuations as winds pushed flames toward homes in the foothills of the Santa Ynez Mountains.

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