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.
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Motorists on this newly reopened stretch of Interstate 15 got a front-row seat Thursday for the man-vs. -nature drama unfolding on the parched highlands, as firefighters battled the raging Blue Cut wildfire within sight of the key transportation route between Southern Nevada and Los Angeles. “There will be a lot of families that come home to nothing”. “Normally we don’t have these kinds of weather conditions”, Hartwig told CNN. Santa Ana winds, which sweep desert air to California’s coast, generally kick up in September. More than 82,000 residents of the area have been evacuated, NBC News reported.
Several dozen structures have been destroyed in the fire, but right now, there’s still no estimate as to how exactly many.
“What I’ve been told is that flames are now ripping through my house”, said Brady, a dockworker who lives on the outskirts of the evacuated town of Wrightwood with his mother, sister and a dog.
One resident told CNN affiliate KABC-TV in Los Angeles about the flames surrounding her house. “I’m trying to remain optimistic”. The containment lines were established on the east side of the fire in an area where evacuees were already allowed to return in the afternoon, so it’s unlikely to lead to more canceled evacuations.
“How bad would it have to get here in order for you to leave?”
The road. Interstate 15. was partially closed. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency. By Thursday the fire had consumed 31,689 acres according to Cal Fire’s incident information system.
About 80,000 residents have been ordered to evacuate including the community of Wrightwood, about 60 miles northeast of Los Angeles. 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. NASA released the below image of the fire, taken Wednesday around 11:50 PST.
Firefighters were able to shelter in place within a nearby structure, but two firefighters sustained minor injuries. The southbound lanes remain closed.
Firefighters said they have never seen anything like this wildfire, growing so fast with such ferocity since it started late Tuesday morning, reports CBS News correspondent Carter Evans.
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A wildfire continues to spread across California’s mountains and desert. The largest, the Soberanes Fire near Big Sur in Monterey County, has consumed 79,000 acres since it began – sparked by an illegal campfire – on July 23.
