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California wildfire threatens homes, prompts evacuations

Firefighters used air tankers to fight the blaze. “It’s like last fire season never ended”. Acreage burned stands at 6,900. Water is being scooped from the lake and dumped on the fire.

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A fire burned over a 100 acres at the Kyburz fire off Highway 50 on Thursday, July 23, 2015, in El Dorado National Forest.

More than 10 1/2 square miles have burned since the fire broke out near Napa Valley on Wednesday.

Fires have been smaller and have been more quickly contained thanks to additional manpower. A spokeswoman for the resort said the fire is burning about 2 miles away and she is waiting instructions from Cal Fire.

By 2 p.m. Thursday, there was no new threat to more homes, Cal Fire public information officer Capt. Joe Fletcher said. More than 1,500 firefighters are fighting the fire from the ground and from above. That’s why they repeated an important message to residents – create and maintain defensible spaces around homes. Residents who evacuated about 50 homes when the fire broke out Wednesday were allowed to return by Friday.

Winters resident Chris Rose noticed how the blaze and winds had turned his hometown into what looks like the fictional video game and movie town of Silent Hill.

As of this morning, 525 fire personnel, 73 fire engines, 16 fire crews, 11 bulldozers and nine water tenders have been dispatched to the fire, according to Cal Fire officials.

“I think that has helped a lot as far as keeping the acreage down”.

This is California’s fourth year in a row of severe drought, creating the flawless conditions for fires to spark and spread.

The fire was 20 percent contained early Friday. According to Berlant, the blaze, which he said was burning “at an explosive rate”, had charred just roughly 7,000 acres.

Some 200 structures were threatened in the Quail Ridge community.

Parts of Highway 128 near the southern rim of Lake Berryessa remained closed, officials said.

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Investigators were still trying to determine the cause of the wildfire although authorities were hot on the trail of a white Jeep Wrangler that was seen in the area when the fire erupted. Fire officials say nothing has been easy about this, not the weather, not the terrain and not the wait for evacuees.

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