California Today: Rainy Winter, Fiery Summer

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/10/us/california-today-wildfires.html

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More than 5,000 firefighters battled through the weekend to get at least a dozen big fires, at times fast-moving and erratic, under control across California.

The flames were fanned by record-breaking temperatures and shifting winds that kept firefighters racing from one place to another.

Reports said dozens of structures had been destroyed.

Southeast of Oroville in Butte County, the Wall fire spread to nearly nine square miles by late Sunday, forcing the evacuation of roughly 4,000 residents in its vicinity, officials said. It was about a quarter contained.

Along the Central Coast, several fires had residents on edge. Thousands fled their homes as the Whittier fire near Cachuma Lake traversed a mountain range and marched toward the city of Goleta. By late Sunday it had spread to more than 12 square miles, with about five percent contained.

Farther north, east of Santa Maria, the Alamo fire exploded in size to more than 37 square miles, forcing hundreds to evacuate. It was about 15 percent contained. Another blaze — the Stone fire — ignited midday Sunday east of Santa Margarita in San Luis Obispo County.

Public officials said California had been primed for a nasty fire season.

A rainy winter that helped ease drought conditions also accelerated the growth of new vegetation — which is now bone dry and essentially waiting to ignite.

“When it’s warm out and dry, it just is a recipe for disaster,” said Lynnette Round, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

There were no reports of deaths from the latest round of fires. Ms. Round said a handful of firefighters suffered injuries, but nothing serious.

Here are some images from the blazes now raging across the state.

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• In President Trump, “Auntie Maxine” Waters has found a perfect target and won an army of new admirers. [The New York Times]

• The government offered a $110,000 reward for information in a string of fires at construction sites in Oakland and Emeryville. [East Bay Times]

• “I’ve shed a few tears reflecting on what I’ve been through.” Once homeless, a Sacramento man is now a rookie police officer. [Sacramento Bee]

• Thousands of people paddled into the Pacific and formed a circle in memory of Jack O’Neill, inventor of the modern-day wet suit. [Santa Cruz Sentinel]

• The yellow road signs that warned California drivers to watch out for running immigrants have almost entirely disappeared. Here’s why. [Los Angeles Times]

• In Silicon Valley of all places, we’re still building corporate campuses like it’s the 1950s. [Opinion | The New York Times]

• An advance sellout. A Magic Johnson fist bump. Lonzo Ball as a Laker brought a new vibe to the N.B.A. summer league. [The New York Times]

• After the humiliating cyberattack that led to her ouster at Sony Pictures, Amy Pascal became one of Hollywood’s role models for dealing with adversity. [The New York Times]

• CBS is facing criticism for letting Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park leave “Hawaii Five-0.” Our television critic weighed in. [The New York Times]

• At a tiny museum in Berkeley, you can smell the natural history of perfume. [The New York Times]

• This Sonoma County restaurant is modeled on the idea that hosts treat guests like friends, not customers. [The New York Times]

• The Los Angeles trio Haim is an anomaly in the music business today: a rock band very much devoted to being a rock band. [The New York Times]

• Five examples of what you could rent for $1,750 in San Francisco right now. [Curbed San Francisco]

• The Badwater ultramarathon — a 135-mile foot race in Death Valley — kicks off Monday.

• This year’s Emmy Award nominees are to be announced Thursday morning.

• On Friday, the California State Fair opens in Sacramento with rides, music and livestock.

• San Diego will host three days of Pride festivities, including a parade, starting Friday.

Any child with a train set knows the joy of a track that makes a full 360-degree loop.

In real life, zigzagging usually suffices to get through difficult terrain. But loops are not unheard-of.

It was on this day in 1876 that the Tehachapi Loop was opened to trains in Southern California.

The Southern Pacific Railroad built the line to connect Bakersfield and Mojave, about 50 miles away.

The loop was devised to overcome a particularly steep part of the trip through the Tehachapi Mountains. The track first goes through a tunnel. It then spirals upward for nearly three-quarters of a mile, gaining 77 feet in elevation before passing over itself.

Seen as an engineering marvel of its day, the Tehachapi Loop has been designated as a California Historical Landmark and a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.

The rail line remains a crucial artery for container transport, as well as a pilgrimage site for railroad buffs.

At viewing areas along Woodford-Tehachapi Road, the trains can be seen approaching from miles away across a wide open landscape of oak-studded slopes and large grassy knolls.

John Signor, a rail historian and former conductor, has visited railroads all over California.

“For my money,” he said, “I always liked the Tehachapis because they’re so picturesque.”

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California Today goes live at 6 a.m. Pacific time weekdays. Tell us what you want to see: CAtoday@nytimes.com.

The California Today columnist, Mike McPhate, is a third-generation Californian — born outside Sacramento and raised in San Juan Capistrano. He lives in Los Osos. Follow him on Twitter.

California Today is edited by Julie Bloom, who grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from U.C. Berkeley.