Chiu)SHAVER LAKE, Calif. Three fast-spreading California wildfires sent people fleeing Saturday, with one trapping campers at a reservoir in the Sierra National Forest, as a brutal heat wave pushed temperatures into triple digits in many parts of state.
The wildfire burning near Shaver Lake exploded to 56 square miles (145 square kilometers), jumped a river and compromised the only road into the Mammoth Pool Campground, national forest spokesman Dan Tune said.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) said the fire scorched at least 1.5 square miles (3.9 square kilometers) and was burning at a moderate to dangerous rate of spread.
A small community south of Alpine in the Cleveland National Forest was ordered to evacuate.
The blazes have burned more than 1.5 million acres (2,343 square miles).