Mendocino fire racing at unprecedented speed into the record books
MIDDLETOWN, Calif. - The massive Mendocino Complex fire jumped across at least four creeks, one major road and a fire line cut by a bulldozer in a single six-mile run this weekend toward Leesville, a tiny unincorporated way station in Colusa County.
Typically, any one of those breaks could have halted the spread of wildfire. But shifting winds and brittle-dry vegetation sent flames - up to 300 feet high in some areas - leapfrogging in all directions in three Northern California counties and on both sides of scenic Clear Lake, past these man-made and natural obstacles. The erratic conflagration has chewed through more than 266,000 acres and 68 homes in 10 days, making it the fourth-largest wildfire on record in California.
It was expected to become the third-largest
