California battles wildfire as blazing heat hits western US

‘Record-breaking heat’ is expected to affect much of the west and southwest US over the weekend, weather centre warns.

Firefighters battled a surging wildfire in Northern California under blazing temperatures as another heat wave hits the Western United States this weekend, prompting an excessive heat warning for inland and desert areas. California’s Death Valley National Park, about 177km (110 miles) west of Las Vegas in the neighbouring state of Nevada, registered a high of 54 Celsius (130 Fahrenheit) on Friday and was expected to reach the same temperature on Saturday. If verified, the temperature reading would be the hottest high recorded there since July 1913, when the same Furnace Creek desert area hit 57C (134F), considered the highest reliably measured temperature on earth.