By Miriam Raftery

Photo courtesy of CAL-FIRE

September 13, 2014 (Cleveland National Forest) – Over 200 homes are under evacuation orders in Silverado Canyon in Orange County due to the Silverado Fire burning in the Cleveland National Forest. The blaze, which started yesterday, has scorched over 1,500 acres. Other fires are also taking a heavy toll on federal public lands.

Firefighting resources are battling blazes in Yosemite National Park as well as Klamath, Sequoia, Lassen, and Shasta-Trinity National Forests. Fueled by tinder-dry conditions amid the worst drought in memory, the fires have collectively burned over a quarter of  a million acres—and it’s only September.