The fire continues to grow despite the efforts of more than 4,000 firefighting personnel who have been mobilized to the area, in addition to 392 fire enginess, 14 helicopters, 67 bulldozers and six air tankers, according to Cal Fire.
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Authorities found the burned body of Robert Bresnick in a vehicle on Saturday and said the 67-year-old had refused to be evacuated.
On Thursday he was identified as Robert Reagan, a 35-year-old father of two daughters from Fresno County who also helps care for a young niece, according to his sister Hannah Cunnings.
“Even since he was a boy, he just really wanted to help people”, she said, crying. No serious injuries were reported, John Thornburg, a spokesman with the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office, told the Monterey Herald (http://bit.ly/2ab2Gpy). They denied cultivating the plant and said they were backcountry hikers, but a deputy wrote in a preliminary report that he did not believe them.
Palazzolo says a separate group of four walked out of the area earlier this week.
The pair was tending to a marijuana grow when they became trapped by fast-moving flames.
Residents of 300 homes were ordered to evacuate and more than 2,000 firefighters were trying to douse the blaze that started Friday. The Monterey County Sheriff’s Department expanded its evacuation orders Wednesday afternoon to communities east of Carmel Highlands and Garrapata State Park, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Cal Fire officials have released the name of the “call-as-needed” bulldozer operator who died Tuesday night while helping crews fight the Soberanes Fire north of Big Sur.
A stretch of Metrolink’s commuter rail along the Antelope Valley Line closed because of the fire was reopened Thursday, though speed limits between stations affected by the fire could cause 15-minute delays.
The fire command said Thursday that crews have stopped the spread of the almost 60-square-mile blaze in forest land east of Santa Clarita.
Firefighters were aided by light winds but contended with triple-digit temperatures.
Crews working around the clock took advantage of cooler overnight weather as they braced for a spike in daytime temperatures near California’s Big Sur where a wildfire has destroyed 34 homes and killed a bulldozer driver working to contain the blaze.
Crews stopped the spread of that almost 60-square-mile wildfire, which destroyed 18 homes in mountains and canyons outside Los Angeles.
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Now 10-percent contained, the fire is threatening 2,000 structures and has already destroyed 20 homes as well as two outbuildings. The fire in the Shoshone National Forest northwest of Dubois has burned about 19 square miles.
