Southern California orders 82000 people to evacuate over wildfire

AFP/Getty Images A firefighter works to contain embers on the remains of a house destroyed in the Clayton Fire are seen in Lower Lake, California, Aug. 15th, 2016.

Cal Fire said a suspect is facing 17 charges of arson for starting the Clayton Fire that has destroyed almost 200 structures and charred 4,000 acres.

Police believe Pashilk started the fire, named “The Clayton Fire”, that destroyed more than 200 homes, businesses and other structures in lower Lake, California. The fire killed four people and destroyed 1,281 homes and 27 multifamily structures, according to state fire officials. Lawns in front of Lower Lake’s modest, one-story homes are brown, matching the wildland grasses on the mountains outside town. Many who see the devastation wonder how they can help.

“Those people have been through a lot”, he said, “people will rebuild”.

Residents in Lower Lake and surrounding communities are still recovering from California’s third-most-destructive wildfire past year, which burned 120 square miles and cost more than $1.5 billion in damages.

Over 1,600 firefighters are battling the fire that has left dozens of families homeless when their houses were razed by the flames.

The blaze was one of 11 large wildfires in the state, where high temperatures and parched conditions caused by a five-year drought raised the fire danger.

One major fire, north of San Francisco, was fading, and about 4,000 people in the town of Clearlake were allowed to return home as the 6-square-mile blaze was 50 percent contained. The nearby community of Clear Lake, where Pashilk lives, was also evacuated.

Two firefighters were trapped by flames in the effort to evacuate residents and defend homes, but managed to escape with only minor injuries, fire officials said.

Damin Pashilk, 40, was arrested Monday and charged with 17 counts of arson.

A majority of last year’s “fire survivors” already fled the area leaving behind their homes and businesses.

Neither the California Department of Forestry, which led the investigation that resulted in Pashilk’s arrest Monday, nor the Lake County sheriff or district attorney would discuss what led authorities to him.

Despite getting some rain last winter and spring, Lake County is tinder dry.

“Everybody is just on edge”, he said. “Is someone going to tell us the facts or just go on TV and say you arrested someone and put it to bed?” Right now, there are no other immediate threats to structures.