Firefighters struggle to contain giant California wildfire amid heatwave

It came as temperatures in Death Valley reached 128 F (53C) on Saturday, according to the National Weather Service’s reading at Furnace creek.

About 300 miles north-west of the desert, the largest wildfire of the year in California was raging along the border with Nevada.

The Beckwourth Complex Fire – a combination of two lightning-caused fires- has doubled in size.

Residents in hundreds of homes were already under mandatory evacuation orders.

The Klamath County Sheriffs Department said it would make arrests if necessary to keep people out of those areas.

People living in additional parts of southern Oregon were under “Go now” orders on Sunday while still more were told to “get set”.

It came as a small plane crashed on Saturday during a survey of a wildfire in rural Mohave County, Arizona killing both crew members.

The Beech C-90 aircraft was monitoring the lightning-caused Cedar Basin Fire, near the tiny community of Wikieup northwest of Phoenix, before it crashed.

Officials on Sunday have identified the victims.

Air Tactical Group Supervisor Jeff Piechura, 62, a retired Tucson-area fire chief who was working for the Coronado National Forest, and Matthew Miller, 48, a pilot with Falcon Executive Aviation contracted by the U.S. Forest Service, were onboard the plane.