Almost 3,000 firefighters were put on the lines after the fire ballooned to more than 51 square miles since Friday, forced expansion of evacuations to 10,000 homes – an estimated 20,000 people- and destroyed at least 18 residences.
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The ferocious wildfire ravaging thousands of acres around Santa Clarita may portend a relentless fire season that could last into November and December, leaving firefighters to play a game of whack-a-mole – struggling to put out one blaze after another, fire officials and meteorologists warned on Monday.
The fire has destroyed 18 homes since it started and authorities found the burned body of 67-year-old Robert Bresnick on Saturday in a auto and said he had refused to be evacuated.
The wood-and-plaster house, built for them by Jean’s father 25 years ago, was still standing while other nearby homes had burned to the ground in the raging fire.
Most evacuation orders have been void except for those living in the following areas: Placerita Canyon Road from Running Horse Lane to Pacy Street, Little Tujunga Canyon Road from the Wildfire Way Station to Sand Canyon Road, Placerita Canyon Road and Agua Dulce Canyon Road.
Residents of two neighborhoods still under threat had to remain out of their homes, the U.S. Forest Service said, after a day when the fire grew only slightly to about 55 square miles (142.26 sq. kilometers).
By comparison, the 2003 Cedar Fire ranks as the biggest on record in the state, burning more than 273,000 acres and killing 15 people. Torlakson, the state superintendent of public instruction, is acting governor while Gov. Torlakson issued a similar emergency order for Monterey County, where the Soberanes Fire has burned through more than 20,000 acres in four days. Detectives are trying to determine whether the person was killed by the blaze or from some other cause.
Latest information on the Californian wildfire reveals that more than 3,000 firefighters are battling the blazing flames.
The coroner’s office has now identified the man whose burned body was found in a charred auto in the driveway of a house in the burn area.
“Boyfriend went back to bring the dog and cellular phone and so on”, he said.
Los Angeles County Fire Department Chief Daryl Osby, appearing before the county Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, said fire crews have managed to save “thousands of structures”.
Over a dozen houses were also destroyed in the fires that broke out on Friday in the Santa Clarita Valley area, Xinhua news agency reported. Large animals should be evacuated early in the morning to avoid congestion and allowing access to firefighting equipment, officials said. The friend left, but Bresnick did not, Winter said.
“Recent drone activity has occurred over the fire in the Bear Divide Area”.
An air quality advisory remained in effect until midnight on Tuesday midnight, as acrid layers of smoke continued to drift across a widespread area.
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Most of the roughly 20,000 evacuees forced out by the blaze were cleared to go home Monday, but firefighters still have a huge job ahead.
