The fire was creating its own weather pattern and shifted northward into Lower Lake in the afternoon, said Suzie Blankenship, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
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The fire was throwing embers and spreading rapidly because of parched conditions brought on by the state’s historic drought, officials said. The blaze was burning along Interstate 15, the main road linking the region to Las Vegas. It was considered California’s third-most-destructive wildfire after ravaging most of rural Lake County and parts of Napa County about 90 miles north of San Francisco.
As that fire surged, a major blaze north of San Francisco was fading and some 4,000 people in the town of Clearlake were allowed to return home.
Damin Pashilk, 40, was arrested on suspicion of setting the devastating Clayton Fire in Lake County, and 16 other blazes in the area. Pashilk is suspected of sparking the blaze that exploded over the weekend.
In a website posting, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office initially said he was arrested on a felony count of starting a fire after having an arson conviction within the past 10 years, but later said that was an error made when booking Pashilk and he had no known prior arson conviction.
A fire official says more than 82,000 people have been told to evacuate from mountain communities threatened by a powerful wildfire in Southern California.
Mandatory evacuation calls went out to 34,506 homes with more than 82,600 people, Sherwin said.
The fire destroyed 175 homes, Main Street businesses and other structures in the working-class town of Lower Lake.
The 14-square-mile fire near Cajon (kuh-HOHN’) Pass has seen massive growth in the eight hours since it broke out on Tuesday morning.
About 4,500 people live in the mountain resort, which is now under evacuation orders.
Almost a decade ago, Pashilk was an inmate firefighter while serving time on drug possession and firearms charges, according to California corrections department spokeswoman Vicky Waters.
Brown declares State of Emergency in Lake County due to Clayton Fire Pashilk has been arrested at least a dozen times before mostly for parole violations, but also on drug and weapons charges. He was imprisoned six more times for violating his parole, but did not work as a firefighter again before he finally left parole in 2011.
Blue Mountain Farms, a horse ranch in Phelan, was in the path of the fire – just as it was for another fire in the area a year ago.
Huge lines of flame are snaking along ridges above the communities.
Near Big Sur along California’s scenic coastline, the “Soberanes” fire was 55 percent contained after burning through almost 70,000 acres and destroying 57 homes, as well as 11 outbuildings. Television news helicopters showed some property, apparently ranch outbuildings, burning.
It’s also stopped a freight train, causing the crew to flee. Thousands have been forced to evacuate the area as firefighters struggle to slow the wind-aided wildfire as it feeds on dry, heavy brush.
James McCauley wades through waist-high water near the burned-out remains of his residence in Lower Lake, Calif., Monday, Aug. 15, 2016.
A wildfire in Nevada turned deadly when U.S. Forest Service firefighter Justin Beebe, 26, of Vermont, was hit by a tree Saturday, authorities say.
Firefighters will patrol for any remaining hotspots for a few more days.
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A fast-moving wildfire threatened scores of homes at a Northern California lake community that was evacuated because of a devastating nearby wildfire a year ago.
