A hillside erupts in flame as a wildfire burns in Placerita Canyon in Santa Clarita, California, Monday, July 25, 2016. 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…
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By comparison, the 2003 Cedar Fire ranks as the biggest on record in the state.
The majority of the estimated 20,000 to 30,000 people who lived in the 10,000 homes that were evacuated earlier were allowed to return home on Monday evening, fire officials said.
The 18 single-family homes were destroyed by the fire in the areas of Sand Canyon, Bear Divide and Little Tujunga, according to Marc Peebles, public information officer for the SoCal Incident Management Team.
The fire has ripped through brush withered by days of 100-degree temperatures and years of drought. The fires are rolling up and down the canyons in what looks like a wall of flames.
Like wind and exceptionally dry conditions, low humidity hampers firefighting efforts.
The causes of the two fires were under investigation.
The wildfire broke out Friday afternoon and the conflagration quickly spread about 10,000 acres a day. His partner was informed by sheriff’s officials that Bresnick had been found dead in a burned auto, the neighbor said. Much of the Los Angeles basin was dusted with a thin layer of fine white ash from the fire on Saturday and Sunday. The man’s identity is so far unknown.
Among the properties to go up in flames was the landmark Sable Ranch, a popular location for television and movie shoots.
“It was a horrific firestorm”, owner Derek Hunt told KABC-TV.
Hunt stood atop a ridge looking over canyons filled with film sets. “We have to stick back, let it do what it wants to and attack it where we can”. The South Coast Air Quality Management District issued a smoke advisory until midnight tonight for portions of the Santa Clarita Valley and the San Gabriel Mountains.
Only residents will be allowed back into the areas where evacuations are being lifted, so people will be asked to show identification. But the winds are expected to weaken into Tuesday.
The Big Sur fire threatened a long stretch of pristine, forested mountains hugging the coast and sent smoke billowing over the famed Pacific Coast Highway, which remained open with few if any flames visible to motorists but a risk that the blaze could reach beloved campgrounds, lodges and redwoods near the shore. The fire is bigger than the size of Manhattan.
The Los Angeles County Fire Department, which is still battling the Sand fire reported to be 25 percent contained and having burned more than 37,000 acres since Friday, reported the death to be the only fatality from the fire.
Oliver Bates has spent the last three nights at a Red Cross shelter after fleeing his home.
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“I only left when it got really bad”, Bates said.
