Firefighters gain on California blaze

As of Saturday, August 20th the number has been updated to approximately 3,198 structures in and around the communities of Wrightwood, Lytle Creek, and the West Cajon Valley area, according to San Bernardino County Fire.

Manuel Vasquez saw his sister and parent’s home for the first time Friday in Wrightwood since being forced to evacuate.

At the peak of the fiery disaster, over 82,000 people had to leave their homes under evacuation orders.

But that encouraging news was tempered by more sobering figures released Friday: 96 homes and 213 other buildings were destroyed by the blaze, majority in its first ferocious days on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to the San Bernardino Fire Department.

More than 37,000 acres (15,000 hectares) of drought-parched heavy brush have burned since the fire broke out on Tuesday.

Johanna Santore was among those left homeless. She tried to rush home to rescue the family’s four dogs, six cats and hamster but was blocked by closed roads.

Neighbors “found the house in smoldering ruins – with no sign of the pets”, according to the wire service. The team’s goal is to gather data and make it available online, via phones and postings at evacuation centers.

A prolonged drought has transformed swaths of California into tinderboxes, ready to ignite.

Other wildfires continued to burn under various states of control across California.

In the Sierra Nevada, bark beetles killed 16.8 million pine trees from October 2015 through May, and in the last five years they have killed 32.7 million pine trees, said Gomes, adding that the infestation epicenter is the Sierra, Sequoia and Stanislaus national forests.

More than 80,000 residents were told to evacuate earlier in the week because of the fast-moving blaze, which has destroyed 96 homes and 213 outbuildings. All evacuation orders have been canceled.

No casualties were reported but two firefighters were were injured and briefly hospitalised, NBC News quoted the San Bernardino Fire Department as saying.

The Santores weren’t as lucky.