The property toll claimed by a large blaze near California's Big Sur coast has grown with the fire threatening hundreds of more homes and forcing state parks to close at the height of summer tourist season.
A plane drops fire retardant while battling the Soberanes Fire in Carmel Highlands, California on 23 July. Photo: AFP
The so-called Soberanes Fire, burning just south of the oceanside town of Carmel-by-the-Sea, has destroyed 57 homes and 11 outbuildings, with at least five other structures damaged by fire, officials said. Twenty-four hours earlier, the count was 41 homes and 10 outbuildings.
Firefighters have managed to save a number of large homes in the hills above the Carmel Highlands community.
The blaze, which started last Friday, has roared through nearly 13,000 hectares of drought-parched chaparral, grass and timber into the Los Padres National Forest.
Containment stood at 15 percent, up from 10 percent during the previous few days, even as the overall size of the fire zone expanded slightly, leaving 2000 structures threatened and about 350 people under evacuation orders.
Mountainous terrain combined with extremely hot, dry weather conditions have hampered efforts by nearly 4300 firefighters to hack buffer lines through dense vegetation around the perimeter of the blaze, officials said.
Flames from the Soberanes Fire burns behind a home in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California on 24 July. Photo: AFP
Fire managers hope steady reinforcements to their ground crews over the past few days will help make a difference, said Robert Fish, a battalion chief with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
"The key here is high temperatures, rugged, steep terrain - a very difficult firefight," Mr Fish said. Much of the effort was focused on halting the advance of flames in the direction of Big Sur communities, he said.
The fire threat has prompted authorities to close a string of popular California campgrounds and recreation areas along the northern end of the Big Sur coastline, including Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park and Point Lobos Natural Reserve.
Highway 1, the scenic route that winds along seaside cliffs overlooking the Pacific, remained open, though motorists were advised to allow for traffic delays caused by fire-fighting equipment entering and exiting the roadway.
The blaze took a deadly turn on Tuesday when a bulldozer operator hired by property owners to help battle the flames was killed as his tractor rolled over. It was the second California wildfire fatality in a week.
About 485 km away, a 67-year-old man was found dead in a burned-out car last Saturday after refusing to heed evacuation orders in a separate fire that destroyed 18 homes in a mountainous area north of Los Angeles.
That blaze, called the Sand Fire, was listed as 93 percent contained on Friday after charring nearly 15,783 hectares.
- Reuters
