Cali Wildfires Kill 1, Destroy 1.4K Homes

A new wildfire in Northern California has killed one person and destroyed or damaged 10 homes in Monterey County, a week after two other blazes killed five people and destroyed at least 1,400 homes, fire officials said today. The blaze burning about 2 miles north of the community of Jamesburg quickly grew to 1,200-acres after starting yesterday afternoon, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection says. The person who died has not been identified. Farther north, two wildfires have destroyed 1,400 homes and continue to threaten thousands more, fire officials say.

Damage assessment teams have counted 888 homes burned in Lake County, many of them in the town of Middletown, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman Daniel Berlant says. He says teams are getting access to affected areas as firefighters make progress but that the count is far from over. The fire, which killed at least three people and charred 117 square miles, was 53% contained. Another 6,400 homes remain under threat. Another 535 homes were destroyed by a separate blaze that killed at least two people and that has burned 110 square miles in the Sierra Nevada foothills, about 170 miles southeast. That blaze was 70% contained today but continued to threaten thousands of structures. (More wildfires stories.)