The inferno that
started out as a small patch of flame next to Interstate 15 in the Cajon Pass
had scorched 15,000 acres of the San Bernardino Mountains. By nightfall, it had
churned up and over ridges and was descending into the Mojave Desert.
"The smoke is
on the desert floor," said Eric Sherwin of the San Bernardino County Fire
Department.
Snaking walls of
flame rising 50 to 100 feet high turned nearly two dozen square miles of
chaparral to ashes, along with outbuildings and homes in the ranchlands 60
miles east of Los Angeles.
"I can confirm
that we've lost structures, both residential and commercial," Sherwin said
at the scene of a hard-hit cluster of ranches. "I'm looking up here and
I'm seeing buses, I'm seeing outbuildings, I'm seeing houses."
At least a dozen
buildings had been torched, including the iconic Summit Inn, an historic diner
near Interstate 15.
#BreakingNews Historic
Route 66 landmark Summit Inn in Hesperia burns #bluecutfirepic.twitter.com/VktmYoplTy
— CBS Los Angeles
(@CBSLA) August 17, 2016
Mandatory evacuation
calls went out to 34,506 homes with more than 82,600 people, ranging for the
ski resort of Wrightwood to the sprawling high desert town of Phelan, with more
than 14,000 residents.
"This fire is
burning in significantly different terrains at multiple elevation levels,"
making it difficult to fight, Sherwin said.
Hundreds of animals,
including dogs and horses, also were evacuated.
Thick stands of
drought-stricken brush in the canyons and grass at the lower elevations fueled
the wildfire. The flames burned faster in the grassy areas, making them less
likely to burn homes but also making them more vulnerable to wind shifts,
Sherwin said.
Blue Mountain Farms,
a horse ranch in Phelan, was in the path of the fire — just as it was for
another fire in the area a year ago.
"Breathing
smoke again, just like last year," Shannon Anderson, a partner in the
ranch, said as she panted into the telephone. "It's raining ash."
Ranch hands used
hoses to wet down fences and anything else that could burn.
Six firefighters
were briefly trapped by flames at a home where the occupants had refused to
leave, forcing the crew to protect the house, fire officials said.
"We were fully
engulfed in smoke," county firefighter Cody Anderson told KCBS-TV.
"It was really hard just to see your hand in front of your face."
"We just
hunkered down and sat there and waited for the fire to blow over," he
said.
Anderson and another
firefighter were treated for minor injuries.
Gov. Jerry Brown
quickly declared a state of emergency in the fire area, freeing up special
resources and funds for the firefight and recovery.
As authorities
battled that fire, another major blaze north of San Francisco began to fade and
about 4,00 people in the town of Clearlake were allowed to return home.
Their relief,
however, was tempered with anger at a man who authorities believe set the blaze
that wiped out several blocks of a small town over the weekend along with 16
smaller fires dating back to last summer.
Investigators in
Northern California said Tuesday they had been building a case against the
suspected arsonist, 40-year-old construction worker Damin Anthony Pashilk, for
more than a year but did not have enough evidence to make an arrest until the
weekend blaze ripped through Lower Lake.
Nearly a decade ago,
Pashilk was an inmate firefighter while serving time on drug possession and
firearms charges, according to California corrections department spokeswoman
Vicky Waters. He was completing a five-year sentence when he was assigned to
fight wildfires for four months in 2007.
The fire destroyed
175 homes, Main Street businesses and other structures in the working-class
town of Lower Lake.
"What I'd do to
him, you don't want to know," said Butch Cancilla, who saw his neighbor's
home catch fire as he fled on Sunday. Cancilla still doesn't know the fate of
his own home and spoke at a center for evacuees set up at a high school.
"A lot of people want to hang him high," his wife, Jennie, added.
An attorney listed
as representing Pashilk did not return a call requesting comment. Pashilk is
scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday.
Roughly 1,600
firefighters were making progress on the blaze as it burned through wilderness.
It was 34 percent contained.
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