California calls up National Guard, orders evacuations as Line Fire expands to more than 20K acres

Sept. 9 (UPI) -- The Line Fire in California's San Bernardino County is only 5% contained late Monday after expanding to nearly 26,000 acres and forcing thousands of people to evacuate since it ignited four days ago.

On Monday , Gov. Gavin Newsom activated the California National Guard to assist firefighters.

The order authorized the guard to deploy 80 soldiers as hand crews and it approved the use of four UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters and two C-130 cargo planes to drop water and fire retardants. Also, Cal Guard will send a military police company to assist local law enforcement in evacuated areas.

"As the Line Fire continues to pose a threat to San Bernardino communities, we're pouring resources into this incident aggressively by deploying more air and ground support through the California National Guard," Newsom said. "California stands with these communities and has their backs."

When the fire scorched 7,000 acres on Saturday, Newsom declared a state of emergency and announced the state has secured a Fire Management Assistance Grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency "to help ensure the availability of vital resources to suppress the fire."

On Sunday , the fire expanded to 17,000 and was 0% contained.

As of late Monday, it had grown to 25,813 acres burned.

The wildfire first sparked in the city of Highland around 6 p.m. local time on Thursday.

With the wildfire more than triple in size compared to two days ago, firefighting personnel have grown from 628 to 1,890. Also on hand are 191 engines, seven water tenders, 15 helicopters and 36 dozers, according to Cal Fire, the state forestry and fire protection agency.

CalFire said 38,002 structures are threatened, including single and multi-family homes, as well as commercial buildings and other minor structures. Of those, 8,800 are under evacuation orders and 29,200 are under evacuation warnings.

So far, though, no structures have been reported damaged.

Three firefighters have been injured but no civilians hurt.

Firefighters have been dealing with sweltering heat, including a high of 106 degrees on Monday.

"The heat affects them tremendously. You know, the work-rest cycles? They can work for a little bit but the body just needs to take a break after awhile," Cal Fire Battalion Chief Brent Pascua told CBS News Los Angeles said of the firefighters working in extreme heat.

In addition, there have been more than 1,100 lightning strikes in the area.

"Vegetation remains critically dry," CalFire said in an update. "Hot and dry weather will continue Monday with an Excessive Heat Warning for the lower elevations of the fire."

There is also a chance of showers and a slight chance of thunderstorms in the late morning and through the early evening.

"We know that triple-digit temperatures are coming again today, so that's why it's so important to get that work done at night when it is cooler," Cal Fire Battalion Chief Brent Pascua told CBS News Los Angeles . "We had the water-dropping helicopters back last night, so hopefully we'll see that containment come up."

By early Monday , the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department had issued evacuation orders of more than 6,000 people. And thousands more in the mountain communities were issued evacuation warnings, with officials telling residents who require additional time to evacuate -- including those with pets and livestock -- to leave their homes immediately.