The Cajon Pass, which divides the San Bernardino and San Gabriel mountains, was created by the movement of the San Andreas fault and erosion and has always been a significant natural pathway through Southern California.
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And in the scenic coastal area of Big Sur, the Soberanes fire had scorched more than 76,000 acres and was 60 percent contained.
It began around 10:30 am (1730 GMT) Tuesday and had already burned 18,000 acres (more than 7,200 hectares), according to the multi-agency Inciweb information site.
An evacuation order has been issued for an area home to more than 82,000 people, just east of Los Angeles.
“There will be a lot of families that come home to nothing”, Hartwig says.
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. After taking a morning flight over the fire zone, he described the fire scene as “devastating”.
“It hit hard. It hit fast”.
“No joke, we were literally being chased by the fire”, said a tearful April Christy, sitting in a van with her mother Vi Delgado at an evacuation vehicle park in Fontana.
Their relief, however, was tempered with anger at a man who authorities believe set the blaze that wiped out several blocks of a small town over the weekend along with 16 smaller fires dating back to last summer. Driven by dry brush and gusty conditions, the blaze led Gov. MORE: Full list of evacuations, road closures, animal shelters and school informationThe California Air National Guard announced Wednesday it would be sending two C-130J Hercules aircraft to support the firefighting efforts at Cal Fire’s request. In northern California, evacuation orders are beginning to be lifted on the destructive Clayton Fire that authorities believe was started by an arsonist. She had evacuated from her home in Wrightwood, where she has lived for about 30 years.
When they reached their home in Phelan, the 28-year-old Martinez said a dark, thick cloud of smoke hung above them.
“You’ve got flames on the side of you”. Crews in the fire zone on Wednesday are expected to face temperatures in the 90s, winds of 30-40 miles per hour and humidity of 3-10 percent.
Although there was no official count on how many homes were lost, Eric Sherwin of the San Bernardino County Fire Department said Tuesday that he had seen at least a dozen buildings go up in flames, some of them homes. “We have red flag warnings that are posted for the mountain areas. It hit with an intensity that we hadn’t seen before”, he added. By mid-afternoon, Cal Fire spokesman Daniel Berlant said the agency had received reports of winds up to 70 miles per hour “fanning the flames” in the Cajon Pass. Cadaver dogs will be brought into the burn area Wednesday to search for the possible remains of people who may not have been able to escape the quick-moving blaze, according to the fire department. However, fire officials estimate that up to half have refused to leave.
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Fire officials say the blaze 60 miles east of Los Angeles has scorched almost 47 square miles as of Wednesday morning, up from 28 square miles Tuesday night.
