To assist efforts, the California Air National Guard on Wednesday activated two C-130J Hercules air tankers. That fire destroyed 175 homes and other structures in the working-class town of Lower Lake. It was 60 percent contained Wednesday, the department said.
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It has charred six square miles since it started August 13.
Roughly 4 thousand people in an area north of San Francisco are being allowed to return home.
Among the recent wildfires in California included the Chimney Fire that started on Saturday and burned 7.300 acres in San Louis Obispo.
In the photo above, firefighters monitored the blaze Wednesday. The estimated area of damage was knocked down to 25,600 acres from 30,000.
The 40-year-old former construction worker turned his head away from television cameras in the courtroom during his arraignment in Lake County. But fires are burning more acreage everywhere.
Pashilk’s attorney, David Markham, said after the hearing that he had been told Pashilk passed out before his court appearance.
“We just hunkered down and sat there and waited for the fire to blow over”, he said.
Firefighters Thursday continued to battle a massive wildfire burning in southeast San Bernardino County. In all, 10,000 firefighters are fighting the eight ongoing blazes.
“I would say we’re going to see them all around in the United States”, Guyette said.
Authorities said they were forced to close part of Interstate 15 on Wednesday and to order about 82,000 residents to evacuate their homes.
Authorities could not say how many homes were destroyed in the fire, but they prepared communities for bad news.
“It hit hard, it hit fast – it hit with an intensity that we haven’t seen before”, said San Bernardino County Fire Chief Mark Hartwig.
Although it falls within the mandatory evacuation zone some residents have remained, keeping one eye on their homes and another on the fire.
Tuesday, the fire triggered limited evacuations and closed stretches of two major highways nearby.
Officials did not release a number of homes that have burned, but warned the number could be high. By mid-afternoon, Cal Fire spokesman Daniel Berlant said the agency had received reports of winds up to 70 miles per hour “fanning the flames” in the Cajon Pass. Cadaver dogs will be brought into the burn area Wednesday to search for the possible remains of people who may not have been able to escape the quick-moving blaze, according to the fire department.
In California there is no law forcing someone to follow an evacuation order.
Firefighters were advised of the Wrightwood situation at a dawn briefing Wednesday morning.
Although there was no official count on how many homes were lost, Eric Sherwin of the San Bernardino County Fire Department said Tuesday that he had seen at least a dozen buildings go up in flames, some of them homes.
The fire erupted Tuesday morning in Cajon Pass, and by Wednesday it had scorched more than 40 square miles, about twice the size of Manhattan.
A day after the fire ignited in brush left tinder-dry by years of drought, the flames advanced despite the efforts of over 1,000.
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Summit Inn general manager Michelle Keeney sorts through the charred remains of cash and lottery tickets pulled from the restaurant’s safe on Wednesday Aug. 17, 2016 after the Blue Cut Fire destroyed the historic business on Tuesday in Hesperia, Calif. California?s newest huge wildfire advanced on thousands of homes Wednesday, feeding on drought-stricken vegetation and destroying an untold number of structures as it expanded to almost 47 square miles.
