A raging wildfire tore through San Bernardino County, Calif., forcing more than 82,000 people to evacuate, fire officials said. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency in the wake of the inferno breaking out.
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Snaking walls of flame rising 50 to 100 feet high turned almost two dozen square miles of chaparral to ashes, along with outbuildings and homes in the ranchlands 60 miles east of Los Angeles.
A brush fire swiftly, which turned into a roaring blaze, has moved through Cajon Pass late Tuesday morning.
Hundreds of animals, including dogs and horses, also were evacuated. The fire department said the injured firefighters were heading back to the fire line to defend structures.
Meanwhile, shelters were being hastily set up in the region, as sheriff’s deputies from San Bernardino County went door to door in neighborhoods ordering people to pack up and flee.
It also burned what appear to be several ranch outbuildings and forced evacuations in and around Lytle Creek.
As that fire surged, a major blaze north of San Francisco was fading, and about 4,000 people in the town of Clearlake were allowed to return home. The blaze first ignited shortly after 10:30 a.m.in the Cajon Pass near Kenwood Avenue, west of Interstate 15, fire officials said.
The 15,000-acre blaze has prompted evacuation orders for about 34,500 homes and 82,000 people and includes the ski resort town of Wrightwood, scattered ranches and desert communities such as Phelan.
Six firefighters protecting homes were briefly trapped by flames and in serious danger before they took shelter in a safe structure, the San Bernardino County Fire Department said in a statement.
Fire crews have gained even more ground against on a Northern California wildfire that has destroyed 175 homes, businesses and other structures and charred almost 7 square miles.
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.
Almost a decade ago, Pashilk was an inmate firefighter while serving time on drug possession and firearms charges, according to California corrections department spokeswoman Vicky Waters.
Waters says more than 1,700 inmates are now fighting fires statewide, including 340 fighting the Lake County blaze.
Around 700 fire fighters, 57 fire engines, 10 air tankers and fire crew stayed on the scene to snuff out the blaze.
A sigalert has been issued for I-15, which is now closed on the southbound side at Oak Hill Road.
Fire authorities warned of “imminent threat to public safety” as 0% of the fire had been contained as of Tuesday night.
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Roughly 1,600 firefighters were making progress on the blaze as it burned through wilderness.
