Latest Southern California Wildfire Ravages 25,000 Acres

The latest wildfire in Southern California has ravaged several structures and thousands of homes as it expanded to over 25,000 acres since Wednesday. The flames were said to have still been climbing the flanks of the San Gabriel Mountains in San Bernadino County, making its way toward the town of Wrightwood, where authorities claim that only half of the residents have complied with communication orders.

Battalion Chief Mark Peebles of the San Bernardino County Fire Department cautioned, "This is not the time to mess around. If you are asked to evacuate, please evacuate." He's right - Fox News noted that officials now estimate over 34,000 homes and some 82,000 already under evacuation warnings, and although no deaths have been reported as of press time, cadaver dogs have been searching the ruins, in case they find people overrun by flames.

So far, authorities don't have the exact number of homes destroyed in the wildfire, but they have warned communities of possible bad news ahead. "There will be a lot of families that come home to nothing," said San Bernadino County Fire Chief Mark Hartwig. "It hit hard. It hit fast. It hit with an intensity that we hadn't seen before."

However, according to The New York Times, officials already warned that these explosive fires are fast becoming common. Glenn Barley, the San Bernardino unit chief of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CalFire) noted, "It's to the point where explosive fire growth is the new normal this year, and that's a challenge for all of us to take on."

Among the recent wildfires in California included the Chimney Fire that started on Saturday and burned 7.300 acres in San Louis Obispo. The Clayton Fire in Lower Lake near Northern California started the same day and ravaged 4,000 acres. Finaslly, the Soberanes Fire in Monterey County burned almost 80,000 acres in nearly two months.