Firefighters initially struggled to get the towering flames under control but later made dramatic progress in corralling the fire that scorched almost 58 square miles and was 40 per cent contained.
Advertisement
A plane aids in firefighting efforts behind Hearst Castle as a wildfire burns in San Simeon, Calif., Saturday, Aug. 20, 2016.
Firefighters gained ground on Friday against a wildfire burning in a Southern California mountain pass that has forced tens of thousands of residents to flee and destroyed about 100 homes, officials said.
PHELAN, Calif. (AP) – Crews made huge gains against a massive wildfire in Southern California as residents anxiously awaited word that they can return to mountain communities where at least 96 homes were destroyed.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection says the blaze that has burned 58 square miles is now 68 percent contained, and firefighters are transitioning to mop-up phase.
Johanna Santore was among those left homeless.
Angie Santore was in school when flames roared through the house she shared with her grandparents, four dogs, six cats and a hamster.
Fire spokesman Brad Pitassi says the situation is looking very good for firefighters.
“It’s terrible. It’s a bad feeling now to see it all burn up”, said 84-year-old Cecil Stevens, who owned the diner for almost 50 years before recently selling it.
At the height of the fire east of Los Angeles, some 82,000 people were under evacuation orders. “It’s like a nightmare”.
A prolonged drought has transformed swaths of California into tinderboxes, ready to ignite. Several other wildfires were burning in the state, including a blaze in rural Santa Barbara County that prompted the evacuation of a pair of campgrounds.
Workers at the castle have spent several days cutting brush and putting in fire lines to create a defensible space around the castle, he added, and that a contingency plan is in place to move the large art collection belonging to media magnate William Randolph Hearst. All evacuation orders have been canceled.
The number of personnel battling the blaze continues to increase, with the tally exceeding 2,600 on Friday, according to officials.
No deaths have been reported in the fire east of Los Angeles and the cause of the fire is under investigation.
The information collected by damage assessment teams is useful for the fire’s incident command, local offices of emergency services, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and insurance companies.
“We have to be so exact”.
Advertisement
“We feel confident we can keep continuing this aggressive attack”, Lopez said in a telephone interview. “The last thing we want is people thinking, “oh my house is fine” when it’s not”.
