Summer’s unofficial end brings no heat relief in western U.S.

By Justin Pritchard

Associated Press

The Western United States baked through the unofficial end of summer, as temperatures in some parts threatened to peak Saturday at levels not seen in decades and made conditions tough for crews battling wildfires across the region.

Areas inland from the San Francisco Bay Area could reach 115 degrees, a temperature last seen in 1950, forecasters said. Temperatures in Sacramento were expected to shoot past 110.

While triple-digit highs in Southern California were expected to drop into the 90s over the weekend, the heat created difficulties for crews fighting a wildfire just north of downtown Los Angeles.

Firefighters worked to contain a blaze that chewed through brush-covered mountains, growing to nearly 8 square miles and prompting evacuation orders for several hundred homes in Burbank.

No injuries have been reported and no buildings have burned, Los Angeles Fire Department spokeswoman Margaret Stewart said.

The warmth extended up the West Coast and into mountain states, with excessive-heat warnings posted for southwest Oregon and lesser advisories in northwest Oregon. Western Washington state expected a sunny, hot and dry Labor Day weekend.

Fire weather warnings were in effect for parts of Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota.

The weeklong heat wave has been generated by high pressure over the West, the National Weather Service said.

Forecasters said more heat could be expected when remnants of Tropical Storm Lidia move north from Mexico’s Baja California during the weekend.

In Northern California, the extreme heat sent Michelle Ogburn to a cooling center set up in Santa Clara’s North Branch Library, one of many that were opened throughout the state.

Ice-water stations were set up and dozens of people, many of them homeless, took shelter Friday.

“I work from home and I live in an old mobile home with no air conditioning and not very good insulation,” said Ogburn, who lives in Sunnyvale. “Today it was very hot and I just couldn’t work.”

Managers of California’s power grid asked for voluntary electricity conservation. Tens of thousands of people across the state were without power at various times Friday, though most outages didn’t last long.