Wildfires raged on two ends of California Saturday, killing one person, destroying scores of homes and reminding residents of last year’s historic destruction, if not preluding a repeat.
The San Francisco Chronicle traced the northern blaze’s origins to Thursday, when a resident intentionally lit a small fire on a friend’s property near the border with Oregon. Fueled by hot, dry winds, the newspaper wrote, the fire “ignited a tree, jumped the river and spread into nearby hills.”
The fire spread to more than 20,000 acres, forcing the evacuation of communities, including Hornbrook, where an unidentified body was found on Friday morning in a burned out home.
“We don’t even have an address because of the devastation around the area,” a Siskyou County sheriff’s spokesman told the Chronicle.
The so-called Klamathon fire continued to burn beyond control on Saturday, the Associated Press wrote, though no more deaths were expected, and weather improved across the state.
In Southern California — in a region that was devastated by the enormous Thomas wildfire and subsequent fatal mudslides over the winter — Santa Barbara County is burning again.
The so-called Holiday fire “exploded on Friday night amid 100-degree temperatures and dangerous ‘sundowner’ winds that made the blaze impossible to control,” the Los Angeles Times reported.
While no fatalities have been reported, the fire spread in 100-plus degree weather almost as fast as some residents could flee their homes, the newspaper reported.
It was only 5 percent contained by Saturday, and had destroyed 20 buildings, according to the Associated Press.
In Goleta — near the city of Santa Barbara — the Times documented a family of eight who had still been unpacking boxes in their new house when the Holiday fire destroyed it.
“This is my grandfather’s right here,” Eric Durtschi, 42, told the newspaper on Saturday, as he salvaged the remains of vintage rifles from the ruins of his home.