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Jul 24, 2008 4:09 pm US/Pacific

More Homes Found Burned In Butte County Wildfire

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(CBS 5 / AP / BCN) Now that the flames have subsided some, firefighters have found dozens of additional homes destroyed by the wildfires in Butte County.

Butte County

State fire officials said Thursday that crews tallied 36 previously uncounted homes torched in the blazes that forced thousands of people to leave the towns of Paradise and Concow two weeks ago. That brings the total number of homes lost in the area since a June 21 lightning storm ignited thousands of fires in Northern California to 106.

80 more homes in and around Paradise were destroyed in an earlier fire that arson investigators say was set intentionally on June 11.

Officials said they expect the number of homes burned statewide, a figure that now stands at 158, to keep going up as firefighters make progress in containing the 31 wildfires that still were burning Thursday.

Monterey County

In Big Sur, the California Department of Parks and Recreation reopened most of the campgrounds that were closed during the Basin Complex Wildfire that had burned 230 square miles, or 142,617 acres, in the area.

Fire crews in Monterey County completed burnout in a number of areas late Wednesday and came closer to reaching full containment, officials said.

The fire, which began June 21, was 72 percent contained Thursday. There were a total of nine injuries reported and 26 residences and 32 other structures had been destroyed by the flames.

Burnout was completed along Blue Rock Ridge to Los Padres Reservoir and around Tanbark Trail. Officials said good progress was also made along Chew's Ridge and Arroyo Seco Road. The cost of suppressing the fire had reached $70.4 million.

Voluntary evacuations remained in effect for Carmel Valley Road from San Clemente Road to Arroyo Seco Road; Arroyo Seco Road west of Carmel Valley Road; and Cachagua Road and Tassajara Road to the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center.

The fire was still expected to be fully contained July 30.

Trinity County

In the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, small communities in and around Junction City remained under mandatory evacuation orders.

Cal Fire updates on all the major blazes currently burning throughout the state are available online at: http://cdfdata.fire.ca.gov/incidents/incidents_current.

(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. The Associated Press and Bay City News contributed to this report.)

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