Daniel Swain in San Francisco Chronicle: Helicopters rescue 200 trapped by fast-moving Creek Fire in Sierra National Forest

A highly dangerous wildfire that ignited in Sierra National Forest Friday evening exploded to 45,500 acres by Sunday. It trapped a number of people near a Fresno County reservoir on Saturday and injured potentially dozens, before helicopters airlifted 200 people to safety on Saturday night. 

“I’m not aware any wildfire-related emergency evacuation airlift anywhere approaching this scale in the United States. Incredible, “ UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain tweeted Sunday, adding: “And very lucky this was an option. Meteorological conditions during this airlift must have been extremely dicey.”