At one point during the blaze, more than 34,000 homes and 82,000 residents were under evacuation orders.
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“My thoughts continue to be with the people of Lake County during this hard time”, said California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Director Ken Pimlott.
A Cal Fire firefighter sprays a hot spot along Cajon Blvd. off the 15 Freeway after a wildfire burned through the area Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2016, in Keenbrook, Calif. Firefighters had at least established a foothold of control of the blaze the day after it broke out for unknown reasons in the Cajon Pass near Interstate 15, the vital artery between Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
Although the Blue Cut fire calmed slightly overnight and halted its march north and east, a red-flag warning remains in effect.
The Blue Cut fire, named for a narrow gorge near its origin in the Cajon Pass about 75 miles (120 km) northeast of Los Angeles, has blackened 37,000 acres (14,973 hectares) of drought-parched heavy brush and chaparral after breaking out on Tuesday.
The Blue Cut wildfire in San Bernardino has destroyed more than 300 buildings, with a third of them being homes.
Firefighters have made major gains on a huge wildfire in Southern California and another wave of evacuees is being allowed home. Pitassi said there still was a possibility of unexpected behavior from the fire since the landscape was so dry from five years of drought. No estimates have come out yet for the number of decimated homes, the LA Times reported. Schools in Lower Lake are still being cleaned. The fire was 26 percent contained Friday morning, the AP said.
Fire spokesman Brad Pitassi says some of the almost 1,600 personnel working the blaze will be demobilized Friday afternoon. Tragically, the Habitat for Humanity office was working to raise money to help rebuild homes destroyed by a devastating wildfire that killed four people and destroyed more than 1,300 homes almost a year ago.
Residents in Lower Lake and surrounding communities are still recovering from California’s third-most-destructive wildfire previous year, which burned 120 square miles and cost more than $1.5 billion in damages. No deaths have been reported in the latest fire, but crews assessing property damage were using cadaver dogs during searches.
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Lt. Doug Pittman, a Marin County sheriff’s spokesman who was working on behalf of Cal Fire, said residents fled their homes very quickly this weekend.
