Almost 1,600 people in 13 small communities were under mandatory evacuations orders and evacuations were recommended for a half-dozen others, said fire spokesman Naaman Horn. The Rey Fire is burning roughly 24,000 acres in the same national forest.
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Forty-eight structures have been destroyed and seven more damaged by the blaze, according to Cal Fire officials. The state is now in its fifth year of severe drought, with high temperatures in summer creating the ideal conditions for massive wildfires like this one.
Investigators are searching for the cause of the fire that broke out last Tuesday about 60 miles east of Los Angeles.
All evacuation orders were lifted Sunday, but only residents were allowed beyond the road closures, which include Lone Pine Canyon Road at Swarthout Canyon Road to Highway 138; US Forest Road 3N31 at Lone Pine Canyon Road and the dirt portion of Lytle Creek Road from the gun range to the forest. Fire danger could persist into Tuesday as windy conditions are expected to continue.
At least 10 homes and several other buildings have been destroyed, Washington State Patrol said Sunday.
“This fire did not go through a dense community, like some fires do”, fire spokesman Costa Dillon told the Associated Press.
Authorities said on Monday that, due to limited resources, they had to enlist the help of local farmers to help battle flames that had destroyed more than a dozen buildings in the area.
The Chimney fire measured more than 33,000 acres by Monday night. The town also lost power, making the battle by firefighters more hard.
Meanwhile, a 58-square-mile fire that destroyed 105 homes in Southern California was nearly entirely contained and all evacuation orders were lifted. People will likely see smoke and falling ash in Santa Barbara, Montecito and Carpinteria over the next several days, fire officials said.
About 50 people have been evacuated from campgrounds and a lodge that rents cabins in the area.
Those blazes all erupted on Sunday, stoked by extremely hot, dry weather and gusty winds.
In addition, Washington, Wyoming, Montana and OR each had their hands full with large active wildfires.
Fire officials tell Spokane TV station KHQ that the fire in Lincoln County scorched more than 15 square miles by Monday morning.
The fire has burned about 42 square miles since it was ignited by lightning on August 8.
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The state’s biggest wildfire was near Kahlotus in Franklin County. The fire was noteworthy for its rapid expansion and reportedly unusual ferocity by firefighters on the front lines of the inferno. What’s more, winds out of the south and southwest were forecast to hit around 10 miles per hour Tuesday with gusts up to twice that speed. The cause of this fire is now under official investigation, authorities report.
