As thousands of exhausted firefighters appeared to be getting a handle Tuesday on two massive wildfires at opposite ends of California, officials warned of howling winds that could spawn more monster blazes with the slightest spark.
Firefighters battling the Camp Fire in Northern California and the Woolsey Fire in Southern California had both blazes at least 30 percent contained on Tuesday morning, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, also known as Cal Fire.
The fires have killed 50 people, destroyed more than 7,000 structures and burned 345-square-miles of land.
The Butte County Sheriff says the remains of those six victims were found in the town of Paradise, California. pic.twitter.com/vYUnvp87zJ
But officials warned of new extreme fire danger in San Diego County, where ferocious wind gusts of up to 86 mph were recorded early Tuesday morning and could hit 100 mph by the end of the day, according to the National Weather Service.
The blustery condition prompted red flag warnings for the San Diego area, signaling extreme fire danger through at least Wednesday, officials said.
Some schools in San Diego County were closed Tuesday and San Diego Gas & Electric took the precautionary measure of shutting off electricity in some fire-prone areas of the county to avoid new blazes, officials said.
On the fire lines in Northern and Southern California, firefighters, with the help of out-of-state fire crews, were showing progress in their twin battles to subdue the widely-destructive blazes that have blackened a combined acreage larger than the size of New York City.
The Butte County Sheriff’s Office in Northern California announced Monday night that 13 additional people were confirmed dead from the Camp Fire, which ignited on Thursday and had burned 125,000 acres by Tuesday, according to Cal Fire.
The Sheriff’s Office said 10 of the bodies found Monday were located in the city of Paradise, which was nearly completely destroyed by the blaze. Seven of those people were found in their burned homes.
The death toll from the inferno now stands at 48, making it the deadliest blaze in California history.
There were more than 100 people missing in the Butte County fire zones, though officials were working to track them down. The Butte County Sheriff’s Office has received 1,513 calls for welfare checks and authorities had located 231 people safely by Monday night, officials said.
The fire left widespread catastrophic damage in the area, destroying at least 8,817, according to Cal Fire.
Two prison inmate firefighters were among three injured fighting the Camp Fire, a Cal Fire officials told ABC News.
The fire was 30 percent contained Tuesday morning.
“The entire community of Paradise is a toxic wasteland right now,” Paradise City Council Member Melissa Schuster, who lost her home in the calamity, told ABC News’ “The Start” podcast. “In addition to that, and this is the hardest part for me to even talk about, is the number of fatalities is [among] things that we don’t know at this moment and that’s something that has to be determined before people can move back in.”
She said teams from the Butte County coroner’s office are combing through thousands of destroyed homes and burned cars in Paradise, a town of about 30,000 people.
“We will rebuild our homes, we will rebuild our town stronger, better, safer and more beautiful than ever,” Schuster said.
In Southern California, firefighters had stretched containment lines around 35 percent of the Woolsey Fire. But crews were dealing with a flare-up Tuesday in the Lake Sherwood and Hidden Valley areas of Ventura County that was threatening to take off in the windy weather and sending a huge plume of smoke over the area.
“We are not out of the woods yet. We still have tough conditions,” Chief Mark Lorenzen of the Ventura County Fire Department said at a news conference Tuesday afternoon.
He said a flare-up broke out about 9 a.m. Pacific time in a canyon that had not previously burned and flames were being pushed up a ridge away from populated areas.
The Woolsey Fire, which also started on Thursday, had burned 96,314 acres by Tuesday, up 2,652 acres from Monday, according to the latest Cal Fire report.
Chief Daryl Osby of the Los Angeles County Fire Department said the Woolsey Fire which spread over 150-square-miles over Los Angeles and Ventura counties, or about the size of Denver, was the largest his department has battled in 100 years.
Despite Tuesday’s flare-up, Osby said, “We are getting the upper hand” on the blaze.
The fire killed two people in Malibu, officials said.
At least 435 structures, including many homes, have been destroyed by the Woolsey Fire, which swept through such celebrity enclaves of Malibu and Calabasas.
“Last night, firefighters continued to hold established containment lines. Firefighters actively fought the fire and worked aggressively,” Cal Fire said in its update Tuesday.
Another fire in the area, the Hill Fire, was 90 percent contained Tuesday after burning 4,531 acres in Ventura County, Cal Fire officials said.
Even as firefighters battled the wind-wiped fires in Southern California, two new fires broke out Monday afternoon on the Los Angeles-Venture County border and sent crews scrambling to fight them. Attacking fires from the ground and air, firefighters were able to quickly smother both blazes.
The largest of the two new blazes sparked up in the Rocky Peak area near a densely populated neighborhood in Semi Valley, grew to 105 acres and prompted the closure of Highway 118 in both directions for more than an hour.
“It just hits home that we are still in significant fire weather and the existing fire is not our only concern,” Chief Mark Lorenzen of the Ventura County Fire Department said at a news conference Monday afternoon.
More than 220,000 acres burned in California
The California wildfires, as shown in the map below, have burned more than 221,314 acres across the state and there was no sign that the weather would cooperate in the firefighter battle anytime soon.
There is no rain in the forecast for the Northern and Southern California in the fire zones through Thanksgiving, National Weather Service meteorologist Aviva Braun told reporters Monday evening.
Dry and near-critical conditions are expected to continue through Wednesday as breezy, northwest winds kick up.
The monstrous fires were threatening to destroy up to 57,000 more homes in Southern California and another 15,500 in Northern California as blustery winds are expected to deal firefighters a menacing challenge throughout the state over the next two days, Cal Fire officials said.
More than 149,000 people throughout the Golden State have evacuated as a result of the fires, outgoing California Gov. Jerry Brown told reporters over the weekend.
Batallion Chief Lucas Spellman said Monday on ABC’s “Good Morning America” that fires were being fueled by an abundance of vegetation that grew during a spike in precipitation last year only to wither during a new dry spell that has hit the state.
“So, it’s just a recipe for destruction,” Spellman said.
“Unfortunately, the best science is telling us that dryness, warmth, drought, all those things, they’re gonna intensify.” https://t.co/ZIGpn8tOn8 pic.twitter.com/EkzVvJBjlW
Officials are warning evacuees eager to return home to stay away, emphasizing that many of the damaged areas are still not safe.
But on Tuesday, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department was allowing some residents who evacuated in the Woolsey fire to return home, including reopening the entire city of Hidden Hills and parts of Calabasas, West Lake Village, and Agoura Hills.
Nichole Jolly, a nurse at Feather River Hospital in Paradise, said she was nearly killed twice Thursday by the Camp Fire after helping to evacuate critically sick patients.
“I called my husband and I just said, ‘I don’t think I’m gonna make it out of this. It’s coming in too fast, I don’t even know where to go,'” Jolly told ABC News.
She said she tried to drive out of the harm’s way only to have her car fill up with smoke and get rear-ended by another panicked driver.
“I knew I was gonna die if I stayed in my car,” she said, so she jumped out and ran.
She said her pants were on fire by the time she was rescued by two firefighters.
Paradise resident Brad Weldon told ABC News that his home was one of four still standing on a mile-and-a-half stretch in his neighborhood.
Weldon woke up Thursday morning to fire reports in Pulga — about a 30-mile drive east of Paradise — but stayed at his home with his 90-year-old mother, Norma Weldon, who is blind and refused to leave.
Once Weldon noticed that the fire was coming toward his home with 60 mph winds, he witnessed a firenado change the course of the blaze.
“And a fire tornado, like a big firestorm, started right up there, and it kind of turned the fire away from us,” he said. “I believe that was the angels.”
When asked what was left of the town of Paradise, Weldon replied, “Nothing.”
“It’s gone,” he said, holding back tears. “Everybody I know lost everything. It’s real sad.”
The governor-elect of California, Gavin Newsom, has issued an emergency proclamation for Butte County due to the Camp Fire.
On Sunday, Gov. Brown requested that President Donald Trump issue a Major Disaster Declaration to bolster the ongoing emergency response and aid residents in their recovery from devastating fires throughout the state.
“We have the best firefighters and first responders in the country working in some of the most difficult conditions imaginable,” Brown said in a statement Sunday. “We’re putting everything we’ve got into the fight against these fires and this request ensures communities on the front lines get additional federal aid. To those who have lost friends and family members, homes and businesses, know that the entire state is with you. As Californians, we are strong and resilient, and together we will recover.”
Late on Friday, Trump declared a state of emergency for California, freeing up federal resources to supplement local response efforts. The declaration allows the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate disaster relief efforts to help alleviate the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population, provide support for emergency measures and free up federal resources.
But on Saturday morning, Trump threatened to pull federal funding for California wildfires if the state didn’t “remedy” its poor “forest management.”
“Our focus is on the Californians impacted by these fires and the first responders and firefighters working around the clock to save lives and property — not on the president’s inane and uninformed tweets,” Brown’s press secretary, Evan Westrup, told ABC News on Sunday.
Brian Rice, president of California Professional Firefighters, called Trump’s threat to slash funds for battling California wildfires “ill-informed, ill-timed, demeaning to those who are suffering as well as the men and women on the front lines.”
Rice said Trump’s assertion that California’s forest management policies are to blame for the catastrophic wildfires is “dangerously wrong.”
“Wildfires are sparked and spread not only in forested areas but in populated areas and open fields fueled by parched vegetation, high winds, low humidity and geography,” Rice said.
On Monday, Trump approved an emergency request for a major disaster declaration in Butte, Los Angeles and Ventura Counties.
We have teams on the ground in each county and will share details as they are available. #CAWildfires https://t.co/i4yqYpJYr0
ABC News’ Karma Allen, Brandon Baur, Will Carr, Stacy Chen, Matthew Fuhrman, Bonnie Mclean, Daniel Peck and Morgan Winsor contributed to this report.
