Officials Lift Evacuations in Northern California Wildfire

Gov. Jerry Brown, center, speaks next to Mark Ghilarducci, director of the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, left, and Cal Fire Chief Ken Pimlott, right, at a news conference at Cowboy Camp Trailhead near Clearla…

Hundreds of people forced from their northern California homes by a raging wildfire were allowed to return Saturday, as firefighters got a handle on the blaze.

Cal Fire says Saturday that the blaze is 62 percent contained after sweeping through almost 109 square miles of rural timberlands and brushy hills in three counties.

Smith said 1,500 other residents are still waiting to return to their homes after they were evacuated shortly after the fire ignited July 29. But while containment grew, so did the sadness for some who lost everything.

They started to make progress in containing it on Wednesday when temperatures dropped and humidity rose, but Cal Fire estimates it won’t be fully extinguished until the middle of the month.

“It looked like a bomb went off everywhere, it’s all black”, she explained.

Layna Rivas told KCRA-TV Channel 3 that her Clearlake Oaks home and most of her chickens were consumed by the flames. The massive wildfire burned through about 110 square miles, which is almost double the size of Washington, D.C., and destroyed 43 residences. “Firefighters continue to work aggressively to build control lines and sustain perimeter control”, the agency said.

Cal Fire says containment has reached 50 percent, with acreage holding at 69,600 acres.