Wildfire forces more than 1,000 to flee their homes in California

Associated Press

LOWER LAKE, Calif.

Flames racing through dry brush Sunday destroyed at least four homes and forced more than 1,000 people to flee and firefighters to carry animals out of 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 east of the town of Lower Lake. The wildfire spread to more than 3 square miles 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.

Suzie Blankenship, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said the fire was creating its own weather pattern and shifted direction Sunday into populated areas.

More evacuations were ordered Sunday in the Copsey Creek subdivision, northeast of Lower Lake, where the blaze jumped a containment line, setting several houses on fire and prompting firefighters and volunteers to evacuate horses, goats and other animals as homes burn around them.

More than 700 firefighters are battling the wildfire burning east of Highway 29 in Lake County. About 3,000 people in Hidden Valley Lake, a subdivision south of the blaze, were told to stay vigilant in case the fire spread farther south.