“Acting Governor Tom Torlakson today issued emergency proclamations for Los Angeles and Monterey counties due to the effects of the Sand and Soberanes fires, which have burned tens of thousands of acres of land, threatened thousands of homes and other structures and caused the evacuation of residents”, read a statement from the office of California governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr. Cal Fire firefighters extinguish hotspots while fighting the Soberanes Fire in Palo Colorado Canyon on the northern Big Sur Coast on Tuesday July 26, 2016 in Big Sur, Calif. California’s signature parks. Also, one person was killed and 18 homes have been destroyed.
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As of Tuesday night, some 3,000 firefighters hacked through dense brush and chaparral and had extended containment lines around 25 percent of the fire, which has charred 59 square miles since Friday, officials said.
See the NBCLA report here.
Residents of two neighborhoods still under threat remain out of their homes. The move frees up funding and relaxes regulations to help with the firefight and the recovery.
Lane Leavitt, who trains stunt actors and specializes in setting people on fire for movies and television, was relieved when he returned home Monday evening to find his home and business fully intact.
Spokesman Dennis Weber says facilities aren’t endangered but officials chose to get the public out of the areas for safety and to keep roads clear and avoid exposure to bad air quality.
Some 300 miles to the northwest, crews made gains Monday against a blaze in the scenic Big Sur region of the Central Coast that destroyed 20 homes. In Wyoming, a large backcountry wildfire in the Shoshone National Forest put about 290 homes and guest ranches at risk. The body of Bresnick, 67, was found about 20 minutes later Saturday in the vehicle after flames tore through the neighborhood, said Los Angeles County Coroner’s Assistant Ed Winter. It was 40 percent contained. It burned almost 11 square miles (28 square kilometers) and forced the evacuations of 900 people, but no homes had burned by Tuesday, authorities said.
Closures as of Tuesday in the major tourism destination include Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park, Andrew Molera State Park and Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, among others.
A total of 2,937 firefighters are battling the blaze, according to the U.S. Forest Service. Smoke was visible from miles away all weekend as the temperatures soared to the 100s in the North Los Angeles County area.
Friends and clients from around the world called and texted Leavitt, anxious he lost everything after he abandoned the house with fire burning on two sides of it.
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About a dozen exotic animals displaced by the blaze began returning to a sanctuary in the Los Angeles suburb of Sylmar on Wednesday.
