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Central California Wildfire Destroys 20 Homes

The fire is threatening 1,650 structures. Jerry Brown who is at the Democratic National Convention with other top state officials, declared a state of emergency for both fires on Tuesday night.

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Firefighters in drought-hit California who are battling a 50-square-mile wildfire could be hampered by triple-digit heat, wind gusts up to 30 miles per hour and low humidity on Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service.

One person has been found dead in the fire zone. That fire, according to the LA County Fire Department, has now burned over 37,000 acres.

Lacore was also among many who were told they could return on Sunday only to learn on arriving at the scene that new winds and new flames meant more days in a hard-to-find hotel room.

Residents are preparing for the fact that should they have to leave, there may not be anything left to go back to.

Winter says his burned body was found about 20 minutes later in a auto in the driveway after flames had swept through the area.

There are mandatory evacuations in surrounding areas. Wyoming state forester Bill Crapser says about 900 people have evacuated. So far, the fire is 10 percent contained.

Two smaller fires are burning in the Bighorn National Forest.

All California state parks from Point Lobos State Natural Reserve through Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park are closed indefinitely. Air quality was bad in San Jose yesterday and that is expected to continue today. Cal Fire officials hoped to have it contained by August 5, with projections it could double in size, depending on wind, heat and the very hard landscape. Some 300 homes have been ordered evacuated.

Another wildfire burning north of Los Angeles has grown to more than 2,200 hectares overnight, and there’s zero containment.

Los Padres National Forest officials have issued a forest order closing the Soberanes Fire area on the Monterey Ranger District to the public.

It is 10 percent contained, and thousands of homes are under threat. LA County Fire places the Sand Fire at 33,117 Acres with 2964 firefighters now assigned.

According to officials, the fire sparked around 8:30 a.m. Friday.

At least 20 homes were destroyed and 1,650 homes are being threatened.

The county can’t afford to send any more equipment or firefighters, said Gold Ridge Fire Chief Dan George, who orchestrates the strike team deployment for the county.

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Eighteen residences have been destroyed in the blaze that started Friday afternoon and quickly tore through drought-ravaged brush that hadn’t burned in decades.

Deadly California Wildfires Scorch Homes Tens of Thousands of Acres