California wildfire destroys 4 homes as crews brace for heat

LOWER LAKE, Calif. -- Flames racing through dry brush destroyed four homes and forced more than 1,000 people to flee a Northern California lake community that was evacuated in a devastating wildfire last year.

Authorities ordered about 1,200 residents to leave 500 homes as the blaze surged south of the town of Lower Lake. The wildfire spread to more than 2 square miles by early Sunday, and crews faced hot weather and little cloud cover as they tried to get a handle on the flames burning largely out of control.

"The fire activity could change in a moment's notice right now," said Suzie Blankenship, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

The fire was throwing embers and spreading rapidly because of parched conditions brought on by the state's historic drought, officials said.

Large, explosive fires have torn through dried-out or hard-to-reach areas across California this summer, including a stubborn blaze near the picturesque Big Sur coastline that has burned 113 square miles since late July and destroyed nearly 60 homes.

In Lake County, the fire threatened the houses of an additional 3,000 people in a subdivision, and they have been told to stay vigilant in case they need to evacuate, Blankenship said.

Danielle Colbeck, 36, saw the flames from her home Saturday and decided to get out. She told the Press Democrat newspaper in Santa Rosa she loaded her car with her two cats and important papers and headed to a friend's house.

"When you see black smoke and flame from your driveway, you don't want to take a chance," said Colbeck, who lost her rental home and all of her belongings in the massive fire that evacuated Lower Lake last year.

The blaze killed four people and destroyed more than 1,300 homes. It was considered California's third-most-destructive wildfire after ravaging most of rural Lake County and parts of Napa County about 90 miles north of San Francisco. A report issued last week concluded faulty wiring in a hot tub ignited the 120-square-mile fire.

Another blaze that broke out Saturday afternoon forced the evacuation of 135 homes south of Lake Nacimiento in central California, the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's office said. It burned more than 2 square miles, but no homes have been lost, and it's partially contained.

In the south, residents were readying for a heat wave.

Temperatures were expected to reach triple digits in valley areas north of Los Angeles, stoking an increased risk of wildfires in inland regions through at least Wednesday, the National Weather Service said.