New California Wildfire Kills One Person, Burns Several Homes

Tony Chavez holds his head in his hands after leaving his home due to the Valley Fire, at an evacuation center at the Napa County Fairgrounds in Calistoga, California September 15, 2015.

A separate blaze in Lake County has killed three people, destroyed nearly 600 homes and burned hundreds of other structures.

The blazes highlight the severity in drought-stricken California of an intense wildfire season that in the coming weeks could become one of the state’s fiercest on record, fire officials said. Unfortunately, not all evacuees will be returning to the home they left behind.

He said teams have completed about 80 per cent of damage assessment, focusing largely on homes and have not yet determined how many additional structures – such as sheds, barns and other outbuildings – were destroyed. The fire was 53 percent contained Sunday.

The Monterey County Sheriff’s department said the man’s body was found outside his burned-out vehicle in Monterey County about 140 miles south of San Francisco.

“Our firefighters this week were forced to stop fighting the fire and went into rescue mode just trying to get people to evacuate”, he told Fox News.

The home he and his wife had been living in for more than 30 years was completely leveled by the fire.

Officials say crews assessing damage this weekend counted 162 more destroyed homes.

Late Saturday, numerous other current fires burning in California were almost 100% contained, and the Valley Fire and Butte Fire were mostly contained.

Evacuation orders were being lifted in both fire zones in recent days for numerous estimated 20,000 people displaced at the height of the threat.

The Lake County fire tore through 62 square miles (160 square kilometers) in 12 hours, causing thousands of residents to flee after it ignited a week ago.

Heat was descending again on the two deadly and destructive northern California wildfires after a few days of fair and favorable conditions, and it brought with it fears the blazes could come back to life and major gains could be undone.

Mandatory evacuations were ordered for residents along two roads.

That makes it essential that the smoldering remains of the two giant blazes be dealt with as quickly and thoroughly as possible, said Scott Mclean, a battalion chief with Cal Fire.