California swelters in triple-digit heat

LOS ANGELES — Temperatures approached triple digits in much of California on Saturday afternoon and surpassed 100 degrees in inland areas as a steaming autumn in the state seemed more like an endless summer.

Heat in the low 90s was felt in San Francisco Bay Area, and it reached the upper 90s in the Sacramento area.

Throngs of thousands who crammed Golden Gate Park in San Francisco for the annual Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival were chugging water and dumping it on their heads as they danced to banjos and fiddles in the midday swelter, with many wearing shorts and little else.

The mercury was at 95 degrees in downtown Los Angeles by midday and over 100 in the suburbs of San Bernardino County.

Normally closed for the season by now, the Raging Waters theme park in San Dimas, where it reached 102 degrees Saturday afternoon, was open to provide relief and recreation.

The heat brought a red-flag warning of critical wildfire conditions through Saturday night, the National Weather Service said.

The U.S. Forest Service has implemented 24-hour firefighter staffing. The Los Angeles County Fire Department has beefed up many of its firefighting crews from three to four people and stationed extra equipment in strategic locations.