Sierra Blaze Destroys 8 Homes, Burns 60,000 Acres

RIDGECREST, Calif. â€”  A fire raging in the rugged Sierra Nevada swept through a tiny community on the remote Kern Plateau, destroying eight homes as it swelled to more than 60,000 acres Sunday.

“The last folks in there were the firefighters and they headed out just in time to get out of the fire’s way,� said Kern County Fire Department spokesman Chuck Dickson. They left late Saturday and returned Sunday morning to find the homes destroyed.

The flames charred pine forest and brush as they spread from the Sequoia National Forest, gaining 10,000 acres overnight in the area about 120 miles north of Los Angeles.

Firefighters estimated that it will take nearly two weeks of digging to surround the fire, and there was no telling how much it will grow in the meantime, said U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Geri Adams.

The Sierra Nevada blaze was one of 50 fires burning about 488,273 acres across the nation, the National Fire Information Center said. In the West, wildfires continued to burn in Montana, Nevada, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Washington, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.

The Sierra Nevada blaze took out houses and trailers in Pine Creek, part of a more broadly scattered community known as Kennedy Meadows. It earlier burned eight other buildings, including five in an abandoned Boy Scout camp.

Firefighters sprayed foam on buildings and cut back brush to better defend the structures.

The weather forecast called for hotter and drier conditions combined with afternoon thunderstorms.

About 1,350 firefighters and nine helicopters, four air tankers, 13 bulldozers and 15 water tenders were fighting the blaze, which has cost more than $3 million, Adams said. Eight firefighters have been injured since the fire began July 22.

Farther south, a fire that began Saturday afternoon consumed 2,080 acres of heavy brush on the Pechanga Indian Reservation in the Cleveland National Forest.

The fire threatened as many as 30 cabins at the Woodchuck Campground, which was evacuated.

The fire remained uncontained Sunday, and officials had no estimate for when it would be fully surrounded. The cause of the blaze remained under investigation.

In Los Padres National Forest, nearly 1,400 firefighters continued to battle a blaze that had grown to 4,250 acres. Three firefighters had been injured. The fire was 70% surrounded, with containment expected Tuesday.

A man trying to spark the pilot light of his recreational vehicle’s water heater with a burning piece of paper ignited the wildfire, said Forest Service spokesman Maeton Freel. Freel said the man could face criminal charges and be held financially responsible for the $4.3-million firefighting efforts.