In Lower Lake, 175 homes and businesses weren’t as lucky.
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Evacuation orders for the Northern California town of Clearlake were lifted, however.
On Monday, the Lake County Sheriff’s Department announced the arrest of a resident, Damin Pashilk, in connection with the fire.
Pashilk has not been implicated in any of the three huge blazes that destroyed more than 1,000 homes in Lake County last summer.
In all, about 82,000 people were ordered to flee, as flames destroyed an unknown number of houses, the Cal Fire spokeswoman said by telephone.
Jerry Brown issued a state of emergency, San Bernardino County Fire Department spokesman Travis Mason said Tuesday night.
Some structures had already burned but it wasn’t yet clear whether they were homes.
Just hours after the 9-day-old Pilot Fire was declared contained Tuesday, another fierce, fast-moving wildfire broke out in the San Bernardino National Forest.
The fire engulfed 8 square miles, the wire service said, and was moving north.
About 4,500 people live in the mountain resort, which is now under evacuation orders. Full list of evacuations, road closures, animal shelters and school informationGov.
At least one structure was destroyed by the flames fanned by winds and high heat.
He was paroled in July 2007.
Known as the “Blue Cut Fire”, the blaze strengthened as it ate through large amounts of very dry brush along the hills of the county.
The Chimney Fire was just 10 percent contained by Tuesday afternoon after scorching 6,400 acres (2,590 hectares) since erupting on Saturday.
At Blue Mountain Farms, about 60 miles east of Los Angeles in the town of Phelan, ranchers had to face the reality that a wildfire was burning in their area for the second time in two years.
Huge lines of flame are snaking along ridges above the communities. Their job is being made more hard by hot, windy, dry weather. The enormous inferno covered 1,000 acres within an hour of its initial spark. Television news helicopters showed some property, apparently ranch outbuildings, burning.
The fire briefly stopped a freight train on nearby tracks. Lone Pine Canyon Road is closed at 138.
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It’s also stopped a freight train and the crew had to flee. The fire quickly established itself, making a moderate run up a slope, then wind on it and carried it across the highway, he said. Interstate 15 is the main highway to Las Vegas.
