California wildfires: Residents return to twisted metal, smoking ruins

Ranch managers Don and Martha Grimm barely escaped with only the clothes they were wearing as a destructive, fast-moving fire roared toward their Northern California home.

The couple, both in their 70s, held hands as they returned to their neighbourhood to find only rubble where their home once stood. Martha Grimm broke down in tears.

"We didn't have a chance to react," Martha Grimm said. "It was here and we got out with the clothes on our back. All of our memories, everything is gone."

Like the Grimms, some residents cried as they walked through the rubble of their homes while others shared amazing stories of survival when more people returned to their houses Tuesday and surveyed the twisted metal and smoking ruins left behind by a devastating California wildfire.

President Barack Obama said Wednesday he planned to call California Gov. Jerry Brown to discuss the wildfire. There were no immediate indications of what aid the federal government might offer. Brown declared a state of emergency in Lake and Napa counties on Sunday.

Don Grimm said he was surprised to find the ranch's chickens, horses and llamas survived the fire. But 10 sheep in a barn didn't make it.

Aided by drought, the flames have consumed more than 270 square kilometres since the fire sped Saturday through rural Lake County, less than 100 miles north of San Francisco. It was 30 per cent contained Tuesday evening.

Fire crews gained some ground thanks to cooler weather and there was chance of rain for Tuesday night and Wednesday, which could help firefighters strengthen and build new containment lines, fire officials said.

Rancher Lisa Comstock said she and her three dogs survived the raging fire in rural Middletown by jumping into a water trough as flames neared her home.

I'm not leaving these animals. That's all I could think of.- Rancher Lisa Comstock

Comstock was also able to keep her horses nearby as the fire burned around them.

"The flames were coming over that mountain and surrounding this place like there was no tomorrow," she said. "I jumped in the water trough with all the dogs, and the horses came up around. Thank God they just stayed here."

At one point she was sure she wasn't going to make it but talking to her animals helped her and the animals keep calm.

"If this is how I go, I'm not leaving these animals. That's all I could think of," she said.

Fire investigators working to determine what caused the massive blaze have narrowed their focus to an area in the community of Cobb, where the blaze was first spotted, said California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman Daniel Berlant.

Homes destroyed: 585 and rising

What sparked the blaze remains under investigation, he said.

Authorities say 585 homes were known to be destroyed, and the number was expected to increase. Another 9,000 structures remained threatened.

The Lake County fire and another blaze about 195 kilometres to the southeast have displaced 23,000 people and were the worst of a dozen wildfires burning in the state. The Lake County fire spread into northern Napa County, but the region's famous wine valley was not threatened.

The utility companies were trying to restore power to the area and water was flowing in some areas of town.

One person has been confirmed dead, and others were unaccounted for, but authorities said they could be staying with relatives, on vacation or elsewhere and not impacted by the fire.

The dead woman has been identified as Barbara McWilliams, 72. She told her caretaker she didn't want to leave her home near Middletown. The world traveller and sharp-minded woman with advanced multiple sclerosis said she would be fine.

Separate wildfire

Her body was found Sunday in her burned-out home after flames kept Lake County sheriff's officials from reaching her.

Lake County has been particularly hard-hit. In late July, a wildfire east of Clear Lake destroyed 43 homes as it spread across more than 260 square kilometres. Another fire erupted Aug. 9 several miles from the community of Lower Lake.

A separate destructive wildfire burning less than 322 kilometres away in the Sierra Nevada had destroyed at least 233 homes. The number of homes destroyed in a Sierra Nevada wildfire in Amador and Calaveras counties has risen to 135, up from 81.

The blaze in Amador and Calaveras Counties has charred more than 290 square kilometres and was 40 per cent contained on Tuesday. It is still threatening another 6,400 structures.

East of Fresno, California's largest wildfire had moved away from the Sierra Nevada's Giant Sequoia trees, some of which are 3,000 years old.