The fire is shooting flames 80 to 100 feet high. The blaze was burning along Interstate 15. In central California, a 2-day-old wildfire destroyed 12 structures, damaged others and threatened 200 homes. Pashilk is suspected of sparking the blaze that exploded over the weekend.
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The Clayton Fire has swept across over 4,000 acres of Lake County, just two hours north of San Francisco. Some structures had already burned but it wasn’t yet clear whether they were homes.
Authorities in California arrested an accused arsonist. The fire has also burned the post office, a winery, a Habitat for Humanity office and several businesses.
Pashilk is suspected in other fires dating back a year and a half, but Cal Fire wouldn’t say if he’s implicated in the Rocky or Jeruselum fires that terrorized the same area.
It was considered California’s third-most-destructive wildfire after ravaging most of rural Lake County and parts of Napa County about 90 miles north of San Francisco. During that time, he didn’t work again as a firefighter.
It’s also believed that Pashlik may have been responsible for multiple fires in the past – and as you should remember, Lake County was hard hit in the 2015 fire season, suffering three wildfires, the Rocky Fire, Jerusalem Fire, and the devastating Valley Fire.
Pritchard reported from Los Angeles.
Blue Mountain Farms, a horse ranch in Phelan, was in the path of the fire – just as it was for another fire in the area a year ago.
The cause of the Rocky Fire, which destroyed 43 homes and burned 69,438 acres in Lake, Yolo and Colusa counties in July and August 2015, was caused by a faulty water heater inside an outbuilding.
The fire briefly stopped a freight train on nearby tracks.
“It is a very fast-moving fire, it has wind behind it”, said U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Lyn Sieliet.
In Southern California, forecasters warned of high fire danger due to a heat wave and gusty winds.
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. It was 20 percent contained.
Firefighters will patrol for any remaining hotspots for a few more days.
Despite getting some rain last winter and spring, Lake County is tinder dry.
At its height the fire posed a threat to as many as 5,300 residences but ultimately no homes were lost. Tragically, the Habitat for Humanity office was working to raise money to help rebuild homes destroyed by a devastating wildfire that killed four people and destroyed more than 1,300 homes almost a year ago. Evacuated residents applauded the arrest and expressed outrage that the fire that destroyed many of their homes was deliberate act.
The Big Sur blaze is one of six large wildfires in the state.
“Every time firefighters would go in to try and attack the blaze”, says Daniel Berlant with CAL Fire, “another home would light on fire”.
The progress came as authorities arrested Damin Anthony Pashilk, 40, of Clearlake, California, on 17 counts of arson Monday.
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About 1,600 firefighters from throughout the state are battling the blaze.
