California wildfires leave more than 1,000 homes torched

UPPER LAKE, California — A massive wildfire in Northern California has torched more than 1,000 homes in and around the city of Redding, authorities said Wednesday as some evacuees were allowed to return home and new blazes exploded in what has become an endless summer of flame in the Golden State.

“Whatever resources are needed, we’re putting them there,” Gov. Jerry Brown said at a news conference. “We’re being surprised. Every year is teaching the fire authorities new lessons. We’re in uncharted territory.”

Just a month into the budget year, the state has already spent more than one-quarter of its annual fire budget, at least $125 million US, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said.

Cal Fire said another 488 buildings, including barns and warehouses, have also been destroyed by the fire, which is now the sixth most destructive in California history.

The 121,000-acre Redding-area blaze, which started July 23, forced 38,000 people from their homes and killed six. It has scorched 490 square kilometres and is 35 per cent contained.

At least three new fires erupted Wednesday in the Sierra Nevada region, including a blaze in Placer County that had consumed four square kilometres of land.

North of San Francisco, a fire threatened homes in an old ranching and farming area near Covelo. About 60 homes were ordered evacuated as the blaze erupted late Tuesday and winds whipped flames through brush, grass, oak, pine and fir near the Mendocino National Forest, officials said.

To the east, another blaze Tuesday night raged through grassy cattle lands near Yuba City, covering more than four square kilometres in a few hours. The new fires erupted without warning and spread with shocking speed through forest and brush that have literally become tinder, said Scott McLean of CalFire.

“We had this rain at the beginning of the year and all that did was promote the growing of grass and brush,” McLean said.

He also had a warning for people visiting wilderness areas: “Pay attention. Don’t park the car on dry grass … no campfires, no flame. It doesn’t take anything to start a fire right now.”