Jul 9, 2008 12:35 am US/Pacific
Butte Fire Destroys Homes; Big Sur Evacuees Return
BIG SUR (CBS 5 / AP) ―
Firefighters pushed back a blaze threatening the small coastal community of Big Sur just enough to allow hundreds of people to check on their homes Tuesday as separate fires forced residents of other Northern California towns to evacuate before destroying dozens of homes.
Fire crews have been straining to cover hundreds of active California wildfires, many of which were ignited by a lightning storm more than two weeks ago. A heat wave forecast to linger in much of the state until the weekend was making the job all the more difficult.
Butte County
A wind-stoked wildfire in Butte County destroyed 40 homes and was threatening thousands more. The homes burned Tuesday in the rural community of Concow after erratic 30 mph winds fanned the blaze -- blowing embers across fire containment lines.
Firefighters went door to door earlier in the day to evacuate 800 to 1,000 residents from Concow and Yankee Hill, about 85 miles north of Sacramento.
The 9,600-acre fire threatening the rural towns is one of 30 blazes that have been burning for weeks the county.
"Now you're in a hell of a fire fight," said Todd Simmons, a spokesman for he California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Residents of 3,200 homes in nearby Paradise, where a fire destroyed 74 homes last month, were also ordered evacuated, along with Ono, a rural town about 170 miles north of Sacramento.
The complex of lightning-sparked fires burning in Butte County have burned 47,000 acres in the area since June 21. They were about 55 percent contained Tuesday, officials said.
Monterey County
In Big Sur, at least 23 homes and 25 other structures have been destroyed as flames marched over more than 125 square miles of land since June 21.
Although the Basin Complex Fire is far from controlled — the rugged terrain has kept containment at 18 percent into the fire's third week — authorities lifted the mandatory evacuation order issued for 25 miles of the 31-mile stretch along the Pacific Coast Highway that had been closed.
Many of the 1,500 evacuated residents of Big Sur headed home Tuesday through smoke and ash, anxious to gauge the damage.
Dena Angelique, 34, unloaded hastily packed bags of books, photos, art supplies and clothes from the back of her dusty Toyota 4Runner after a week away from her home.
She was relieved to find the fire had stopped within 100 yards of her home, though it had charred the nearby mountainside. She wasn't sure how long she'd stay; smoke and ashes still floated among the blackened remains of oak and pine, burning her throat.
"It was so insane watching the whole hillside burning," she said. "It's so nice to come back and know that we're safer here now."
Officials, however, cautioned that the lifted evacuation orders did not mean conditions had drastically improved.
"They still have an awful lot of active fire there. ... There were 2,500 residences still threatened," said U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Juanita Freel. She added that officials were trying to be sensitive to residents' needs to check on their properties.
Torrey Waag, 61, general manager of Deetjens Big Sur Inn, pulled up to the property Tuesday after a week away and found it looking "pretty bleak."
When he left in the middle of the night, Waag packed old oil paintings, the office computers, some books and his meditation altar into his truck.
"I was very sad and worried at the idea of this place burning. The stuff here is irreplaceable," he said.
Three biologists from Ventana Wildlife Society have accounted for 23 of the 25 condors, most of them born in captivity, that make their homes in Big Sur. One of the missing birds is the alpha male of the group; the other is a nesting chick.
Joe Burnett, a senior biologist with the society who spent last week monitoring the birds via GPS "like a worried parent," said he was relieved to find four condors feasting on a dead sea lion pup. The researchers hadn't been able to supplement their feed in over a week.
"This fire has shown us these condors have the instincts to avoid fire and to survive. This is a big step closer to being true wild birds," Burnett said.
Santa Barbara County
At the southern end of the Los Padres National Forest in Santa Barbara County, homes were also threatened by another fire.
However, many residents of the 275 homes in Goleta that were under mandatory evacuation orders Tuesday morning were allowed to return home by afternoon. Approximately 3,200 other homes were in areas where residents had been warned to be ready to leave.
About 1,300 firefighting personnel had the 9,710-acre Gap Fire about 50 percent contained.
"Overall, the fire has calmed down in our most populated areas," fire spokeswoman Pat Wheatley said Tuesday.
Other Fires
Homes were still threatened by the Piute Fire in part of the Sequoia National Forest east of Bakersfield in the southern Sierra Nevada.
The 48-square-mile Piute Fire won't be controlled for at least another two weeks, officials said. The fire was 22 percent contained Tuesday.
That fire was among more than 300 still uncontained out of some 1,780 that have scorched California in two weeks. Most were started by lightning strikes.
More than 100 structures statewide have been destroyed. They include homes, a commercial building and outbuildings. One firefighter died of a heart attack.
Red Flag Fire Warning
Temperatures in some parts of California's Central Valley were forecast to climb close to 110 degrees Tuesday and Wednesday.
The expected heat wave raised not only the fire danger, but also concerns about heat illness among firefighters worn down by the long fight against blazes that have consumed more than 985 square miles in California since late June.
"We do have a lot of fatigue because of the low numbers of resources in the state," said Thom Walsh, a Forest Service resource unit leader.
Crews took rest breaks in refrigerated trailers with bunk beds before returning to the field, but heat stroke was a worry, Walsh said.
Cal Fire updates on all the major blazes burning throughout the state are available online at:
http://cdfdata.fire.ca.gov/incidents/incidents_current.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
