Large, explosive fires have torn through dried-out or hard-to-reach areas across California this summer, including a stubborn blaze near the picturesque Big Sur coastline that has burned 113 square miles since late July and destroyed almost 60 homes.
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It’s largely burning out of control in an area that was evacuated during a devastating wildfire previous year after officials revised down the extent to which they’ve contained it.
The fire is burning the area spared by last year’s devastating Valley, Rocky and Jerusalem fires, which burned a combined 170,623 acres, destroyed 2,078 structures and killed four people.
Mandatory evacuations were issued, but it is unclear how many homes are threatened.
Firefighters are trying to prevent the blaze from spilling into the town of Lower Lake, just north of where last year’s deadly Valley Fire roared through Lake County.
The fire doubled in size overnight and is only 5% contained.
The fire was throwing embers and spreading rapidly because of parched conditions brought on by the state’s historic drought, officials said.
State Sen. Mike McGuire, whose district includes the fire-ravaged Lake County, was on his way to Lower Lake Sunday morning to check out the burn zone with the sheriff’s department.
A 80-acre wildfire in the Lower Lake area of Lake County is threatening homes and prompted evacuations Saturday evening, Cal Fire said.
Blankenship says fire activity could change at a moment’s notice as crews fighting the blaze face high temperatures and no cloud cover.
Cal Fire says that the blaze is fast-moving and volatile, burning in grassy oak woodland and heavy brush that is hard to access in some areas.
Cal Fire spokesman Daniel Berlant said Sunday that an initial damage assessment showed four homes leveled by the blaze.
Cal Fire spokeswoman Suzie Blankenship said the fire was creating its own weather pattern and shifted direction Sunday afternoon into populated areas.
Danielle Colbeck, 36, one of those residents, spent Saturday night at a friend’s home in Clearlake after she saw the fire from her home off Big Bear Road near Highway 29.
Cal Fire officials say the fire about 90 miles north of San Francisco has grown to almost 5 square miles since it erupted Saturday afternoon.
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A report issued this week concluded that the fire was ignited by faulting wiring in a hot tub. It burned more than 2 square miles, but no homes have been lost, and it’s partially contained. In Southern California, residents were readying for a heat wave and gusty winds. Temperatures reached triple digits in numerous places, stoking an increased risk of wildfires across the mountains of Ventura and Los Angeles counties through at least Wednesday, the National Weather Service said.
