Residents return: Evacuees allowed back in Glen Ellen homes.

Two weeks after wildfires ravaged California’s Wine Country, residents in some Sonoma County areas devastated by flames finally were allowed to return to their neighborhoods Sunday.

In Glen Ellen, authorities reopened neighborhoods around noon to evacuated residents, who would find out whether their homes survived the fierce Nuns Fire that erupted on Oct. 8 and tore through the area.

The Nuns Fire was 90 percent contained Sunday after swelling to more than 56,000 acres as it merged with several blazes, including the Partrick and Oakmont fires, in the days after dozens of wildfires exploded around Wine Country and beyond.

The destruction in Glen Ellen was vast.

Whole neighborhoods along Warm Springs Road were wiped out by flames, along with homes to the south off Arnold Drive.

One Glen Ellen resident, 72-year-old Lee Chadwick Roger, died in the fire. Garrett Paiz, a 38-year-old watertruck driver fighting the Nuns Fire, died last week after crashing his vehicle in Napa County.

The small town of fewer than 1,000 is known for its wineries and Jack London State Historic Park, where the famed writer had a home and ranch. The park was not damaged in the fire.

Residents were allowed into the town Sunday via Arnold Road. Nearby Highway 12 remained closed while firefighters continued snuffing out the last of the fire’s hot spots in the mountains to the northeast.

Investigators are looking into the cause and origin of the fire along rural Nuns Canyon Road just off Highway 12. Officials with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, have not determined the cause of any of the state’s recent wildfires.

For the first time since the Tubbs Fire ripped though Santa Rosa in the early morning hours of Oct. 9, Sonoma County Sheriff ’s Office officials reopened unincorporated areas of Mark West Springs and Riebli Road. Residents were required to show identification proving they lived in the area at a checkpoint at the Kaiser Medical Building at 3925 Old Redwood Highway.

The Tubbs Fire was 94 percent contained Sunday after leveling 5,300 structures and killing 22 on its way to burning 36,807 acres. The fire is the most destructive in state history.

The Atlas Fire, which burned 741 homes, many around the Silverado Resort and Spa north of downtown Napa, was 93 percent contained Sunday at 51,624 acres.

Cal Fire officials said they expect full containment of the most destructive fires Tuesday.