To the south, firefighters made progress containing a huge blaze in mountains outside Los Angeles, allowing authorities to let most of 20,000 people evacuated over the weekend to return home.
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Residents of two neighborhoods still under threat outside Los Angeles had to remain out of their homes, the U.S. Forest Service said, after a day when the fire grew only slightly to about 55 square miles.
Judy estimated that about 100 structures were still threatened Tuesday, including mobile homes and a handful of commercial buildings.
A week of triple-digit temperatures awaited the almost 3,000 firefighters battling flames in rugged terrain between Los Angeles and suburban Santa Clarita, where many homes are tucked into canyon lands.
Winter said investigators have not determined Bresnick’s “last city” resident address.
Acting California Governor Tom Torlakson, filling in for Jerry Brown, who is at the Democratic National Convention, declared a state of emergency on Tuesday for the counties where the fires are located. The higher-than-normal total has collectively scorched more than 200,000 acres, state fire officials said. Their home also burned to the ground. “And I’m sure that we’re gonna be okay”, he said.
A firefighter asked the couple to leave their doors and windows unlocked in case the fire came.
Eight hikers were rescued near the fire lines Tuesday after spending days wandering smoky trails with little water or food.
They watched the drama unfold from a friend’s home in La Cañada Flintridge.
“We did hear on the news that some houses had burned, and we were crying”, Jean said. “I’m really grateful. Those firefighters are the bravest people in the world”.
“We got off pretty darn lucky”, Wayne Johnson said, surveying the burned hulk of their motor home and his stepson’s 1999 Corvette.
The only person to die in the Sand fire has been identified as 67-year-old Robert Bresnick, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Department said Tuesday.
Leavitt and his son on Saturday used extinguishers to battle a 50-foot (15-meter) circle of flames in the backyard before firefighters arrived. A wildfire burns in the Palo Colorado Canyon in the scenic Big Sur region of California’s Central Coast, Monday, July 25, 2016.
“We’d have to go back a long way to compare a fire to this”.
The L.A. County Sheriff’s said in a statement that power lines, debris and equipment are all considered safety concerns. The FAA has issued a temporary flight restriction in the area of the fires, meaning “any private aircraft or drone that violates the TFR could face serious criminal charges”, according to the agency’s site.
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But firefighters on Tuesday afternoon will be laboring in above average heat of 102 degrees Fahrenheit (39 degrees Celsius) and low humidity, National Weather Service specialist Stuart Seto said.
