California | A forest fire forces authorities to evacuate a hospital and hundreds of homes in the north of the state

ArabiaWeather - A forest fire, driven by strong winds, broke out on Sunday in the heart of Napa Valley County, northern California, and spread over more than a thousand acres, forcing the authorities to evacuate hundreds of homes and a hospital, authorities said.

The fire broke out east of Calistoga, about 120 km north of San Francisco, and spread to the nearby towns of Deer Park and St. Helena, as the flames approached the Advantest Health Hospital in St. Helena until they were within a mile of it.

The sky is orange during the Glass Fire in Deer Park, California, on Sunday. Reuters / Stephen Lamm

A hospital spokeswoman told Reuters that all 55 patients who were in the hospital at the time were safely evacuated over a five-hour period, starting at 7 a.m.

She added that it was the second evacuation operation related to bushfires to the 151-bed hospital in about a month.

A spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention said about 600 evacuation orders had been issued, while another 1,400 residents were alerted to the necessity to prepare to flee at any moment. He added that the eviction notifications generally included about 5,000 people.

By noon, he said, some 1,200 acres of grassland hillsides and oak forests had been burned and efforts to contain them had failed.

Source: Reuters