Fire officials briefed residents at an evacuation centre Sunday morning at the San Bernardino County Fairgrounds, where about 15 residents remained.
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The Blue Cut Fire destroyed 105 homes and scorched more than 37,000 acres.
The fire started at 4:05 p.m. August 13 at Running Deer and Chimney Rock roads south of Lake Nacimiento, Cal Fire officials said.
The Chimney Fire is one of six large wildfires that more than 10,000 firefighters are battling statewide, which include the destructive Clayton Fire that’s almost contained in Lake County and the Soberanes Fire burning near Big Sur in Monterey County.
Here’s how you can donate to disaster relief for people in San Bernardino County affected by the Blue Cut Fire, or to the thousands affected in flood-ravaged southern Louisiana.
The blaze destroyed more than 300 structures, about a third of which were homes, and forced the evacuation of about 82,000 residents. Work by the damage assessment team is ongoing. The 19,629-acre Cedar fire burning in Kern and Tulare counties was 5% contained.
“The fire is now burning through Rock Butte area and into Monterey County west of lake San Antonio”, the fire agency said in its Monday morning Incident Update.
Firefighters on Sunday continued to defend the iconic Hearst Castle from the Chimney fire, an aggressive blaze that, like many fires across the state, has been driven by thick, dry grasses and diseased trees weakened by persistent drought conditions.
The Hearst Castle is closed until further notice because of the fire, according to the landmark’s website.
Fire officials say the blaze was about 3 ½ miles from the hilltop estate on Saturday.
Stephen Hearst, vice president and general manager of Hearst Western Properties, said that as of Sunday evening about 10,000 to 12,000 acres of the roughly 80,000-acre property had been burned. As of Monday, it was only 20 percent contained.
As of Monday, 12 homes had been destroyed by the fire and another 20 damaged.
“A fire has never come this close before”, State Parks supervising ranger Robert Chambers told the Associated Press earlier. “Really they kind of do a disservice to their neighbors”. The goal is to compile the data even before the fire is fully extinguished and make them available online, via phone recordings and on postings at evacuation centers.
The escalation brings in crews from other fires, which is what happened Monday as some of those fighting the Soberanes Fire near Big Sur headed south to the Chimney Fire.
Firing operations have been conducted several times now in the last week. The fire is 39 percent surrounded after being stuck at 35 percent for several days.
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Cal Fire has received numerous reports of scammers contacting the public, pretending to be fire agencies and asking for donations and volunteers, Haskett said. The Blue Cut Fire no longer poses a threat to communities. Most evacuees were allowed to return on Sunday.
