A Sierra Nevada fire claimed an additional 250 homes, bringing the total to 503, California fire officials said Saturday after making new assessments.
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman Mike Mohler said the increased count comes as firefighters make progress and damage inspection teams have access to affected areas.
Cal Fire had reported 252 homes destroyed as of Friday night by the fire burning in Amador and Calaveras counties. Two deaths have been reported.
The fire is 65% contained.
A separate blaze in Lake County, about 170 miles northwest, has killed three people, destroyed nearly 600 homes and burned hundreds of other structures.
Heat was descending again on the two deadly and destructive northern California wildfires after a few days of fair and favorable conditions, and it brought with it fears the blazes could come back to life and major gains could be undone.
“We’re looking at predicted weather of 100 degrees for the next couple of days, and at least mid-90s throughout the weekend,” Scott Mclean, a battalion chief with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said Friday.
That makes it essential that the smoldering remains of the two giant blazes be dealt with as quickly and thoroughly as possible, Mclean said.
On the frontline with California firefighters battling out-of-control Sierra Nevada blaze – in pictures
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“You’ve got some high temps, high winds that could stir up those ash piles and those ember piles,” he said. “We have to do that mop-up to be sure this fire goes to bed.”
By Saturday morning the blaze in Lake County had charred 116 square miles and was 48% contained.
The two killed by the Amador and Calaveras county fire, 66-year-old Mark McCloud and 82-year-old Owen Goldsmith, died after rejecting orders from authorities to evacuate, Cal Fire spokeswoman Lynnette Round said.
It wasn’t clear if the three dead in Lake County had received evacuation notices, but two of them declined requests by friends and family to leave.