Six firefighters protecting homes were briefly trapped by flames and in serious danger before they took shelter in a safe structure, the San Bernardino County Fire Department said in a statement. A helitanker does a water drop on hot spots during a wildfire near Cajon Boulevard in Devore, Calif., Thursday, Aug. 18, 2016.
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(AP Photo/Noah Berger). Following a wildfire, a melted McDonald’s sign stands outside a restaurant in Cajon Junction, Calif., on Thursday, Aug. 18, 2016. Scenes of destruction were everywhere Thursday after a huge wildfire sped through mountains and hi.
Five years of drought have turned the state’s wildlands into a tinder box, with eight fires now burning from Shasta County in the far north to Camp Pendleton just north of San Diego.
Another wave of evacuees from the city of Phelan has been allowed to go home.
Although there has been massive loss of property in this fire, no injuries have been reported.
The inferno has burned 30,000 acres in 24 hours and forced more than 82,000 to evacuate.
A wildfire with a ferocity never seen before by veteran California firefighters raced up and down canyons, instantly engulfing homes and forcing tens of thousands of people to flee, some running for their lives just ahead of the flames.
Over 200 outbuilding and numerous vehicles were also destroyed by the fire that’s already scorched 58 square miles.
Firefighters have had considerable success in corralling the flames after the blaze exploded out of the Cajon Pass area on Tuesday and quickly spread across 58 square miles of mountain and desert lands.
The equipment manager of the U.S. Olympic fencing team was among those who lost their homes to a Northern California wildfire.
The blaze is now 26% contained. 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.
According to KTLA, evacuations were lifted for residents in the areas west of the 15 Freeway to Baldy Mesa Road, south of Phelan Road to Whitehaven Street and Praire Trail on Thursday evening as firefighters began to get a handle on the blaze.
Residents in Lower Lake and surrounding communities are still recovering from California’s third-most-destructive wildfire a year ago, which burned 120 square miles and cost more than $1.5 billion in damages.
Meanwhile, some schools in the Konocti Unified School District will open Monday for the fall after the start date was delayed by the fire.
UPDATED: LOWER LAKE, Calif. (WKOW) – Damin Anthony Pashilk of Clearlake, California was arrested Monday on 17 counts of arson and is in jail. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
The Blue Cut Fire started the morning of August 16 in the Cajon Pass, west of Interstate 15; As of August 18, the blaze had ballooned to about 35,969 acres, with 22 percent of that contained, according to CalFire.
Fire spokesman Brad Pitassi says some of the almost 1,600 personnel working the blaze will be demobilized Friday afternoon.
One area of concern was southeast of the ski town of Wrightwood, where old-growth brush and trees haven’t burned in 70 years, fire behavior analyst Brendan Ripley said.
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An estimated 80,000 or more people were instructed to evacuate, but as NPR’s Nathan Rott tells All Things Considered, it’s not clear whether everyone has been heeding that warning.
