SANTA ROSA, Calif. – The Latest on California wildfires (all times local):
6:45 a.m.
Helicopters are making water drops as crews working in steep terrain battle an out-of-control fire burning near a historic observatory and communications towers on Mount Wilson northeast of Los Angeles.
Robert Diaz of the Los Angeles County Fire Department says more than 25 acres of dry brush have been charred since the blaze broke out shortly before 4 a.m. Tuesday near the 5,710 foot (1,740 meter) peak. There is no containment.
A huge plume of smoke is visible across the Los Angeles basin and surrounding valleys.
Officials say the observatory has been evacuated and the fire is not burning near foothill residences.
Firefighters hope to make progress surrounding the fire while winds remain calm amid cooler morning temperatures.
Mount Wilson, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) northeast of downtown Los Angeles, houses critical broadcast and communications antennas for the region.
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6:15 a.m.
Northern California firefighters are battling a fire that sprang up overnight in the southern Bay Area Santa Cruz mountains, prompting evacuation orders.
Rob Sherman, assistant chief of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, tells KNTV news that at least one structure is destroyed and about 100 homes threatened.
Sherman said that a house fire is believed to have sparked the quick-spreading blaze.
Firefighters plan to attack the flames from air once the sun rises.
A cluster of wildfires have been burning in northern California for a week. The fires, the deadliest cluster in California history, have killed at least 41 people and destroyed nearly 6,000 homes.
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3 a.m.
A week after fleeing wildfires, tens of thousands of Californians are drifting back into their neighborhoods.
Some will face the prospect of destroyed homes. All will face possible lasting emotional damage.
Mendocino County Supervisor Rob Brown said Monday that “it’s never going to be the same” for the 8,000 evacuees from his county allowed to return home.
Brown said they’ll have to seek a new normal after the destruction, displacement and devastation of the fires that destroyed nearly 6,000 homes and killed 41 people.
Officials in neighboring Sonoma County, which had the most death and destruction, said they have increasingly been getting calls from people worried about mentally coping with what’s happened.
