A fast-moving Northern California wildfire has destroyed more than 100 homes and forced thousands to flee an area where drought conditions and high temperatures are making firefighting hard.
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Andrea McMullen cries as it is announced that Damin Pashilk was arrested on arson charges for allegedly sparking a wildfire that exploded over the weekend in a Northern California town, in Middletown, Calif., on Monday, Aug. 15.
The Chimney fire, which broke out near Chimney Rock Road, was just 10 percent contained by Tuesday morning.
“The residents of Lake County have experienced senseless loss and endured significant hardship over the past year”, Pimlott said.
Smith said people had more warning with this fire than the last, so he’s hopeful fewer animals were hurt or killed in the flames.
Sherwin says some structures have already burned, but it hasn’t yet been determined whether any of them were homes. Twenty-four hours later, it was 4,000 acres, with at least 175 structures destroyed and 4,000 people evacuated.
It also burned what appear to be several ranch outbuildings and forced evacuations in and around Lytle Creek.
Corrections officials say the man suspected of sparking a massive Northern California wildfire once worked as an inmate firefighter while he served time on drug possession and firearms charges.
The Lower Lake fire broke out Saturday afternoon and exploded to almost 5 square miles as it fed on bone-dry vegetation.
Tragically, the burned Habitat for Humanity office had been raising money to help rebuild homes destroyed by one of the state’s most destructive blazes almost a year ago. During that time, he didn’t work again as a firefighter. Most of the 175 structures destroyed were mobile homes and small bungalows.
The flames earlier reached historic Main Street, where firefighters couldn’t save an office of Habitat for Humanity, an organization that had been raising money to help rebuild homes in nearby communities torched a year ago.
After 1,500 acres burned a year ago on the 1,700-acre ranch where Comstock grew up and still lives, he has cleared out brush to make fire breaks – a ritual familiar to other Californians who live in areas traditionally associated with wildfires. Television news helicopters showed some property, apparently ranch outbuildings, burning.
It’s also stopped a freight train, causing the crew to flee.
San Bernardino National Forest officials estimated Tuesday it has exploded to 1,000 acres in about 90 minutes.
In Southern California, forecasters warned of high fire danger due to a heat wave and gusty winds.
The fire was started by an illegal campfire on July 22 and had burned more than 118 square miles, destroyed 57 homes and led to the death of a man in a bulldozer accident. The blaze was burning along Interstate 15. Temperatures reached triple digits in numerous places, stoking an increased risk of wildfires across the mountains of Ventura and Los Angeles counties through at least Wednesday, the National Weather Service said.
On Monday, he stood in front of the burned rubble that remained.
The fire burned between mountain communities near Lake Arrowhead and the high desert city of Hesperia to the north. “To hear someone intentionally set this fire, not to mention others – these people lost homes”.
In central California, Highway 1 has reopened after a daylong closure for removal of fire-weakened trees north of Big Sur.
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.
All California state parks in the area have been closed.
San Bernardino County Fire Department spokeswoman Tracey Martinez said the fire was reported Tuesday in a sparsely populated area.
Damin Pashilk, 40, was taken into custody on Monday and was expected to face 17 counts of arson, authorities said.
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About 1,600 firefighters from throughout the state are battling the blaze.
