Man charged with arson in California wildfire once worked as an inmate firefighter

Corrections officials say the man suspected of sparking a massive Northern California wildfire once worked as an inmate firefighter while he served time on drug possession and firearms charges.

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Corrections department spokeswoman Vicky Waters said Tuesday that 40-year-old Damin Anthony Pashilk of Clearlake was completing a five-year sentence when he was assigned to fight wildfires from April through July 2007.

Pashilk was arrested Monday on suspicion of starting the wildfire in Lower Lake, about a two hour drive from San Francisco. It has burned nearly 18 square kilometres while destroying 175 structures.

He was paroled in July 2007. He was imprisoned six more times for violating his parole, but did not work as a firefighter again before he finally left parole in 2011.

Waters says more than 1,700 inmates are currently fighting fires statewide, including 340 fighting the Lake County blaze.

The fire is one of two dozen major wildfires across the drought-parched U.S. West that have all together charred nearly 120,000 hectares.

"Mr. Pashilk committed a horrific crime and we will seek prosecution to the fullest extent of the law," Cal Fire Chief Ken Pimlott said in a statement.

There were no reports of casualties from the fires.

The Clayton fire, which had blackened about 1,600 hectares by late Monday afternoon, was about five per cent contained, fire officials said.

More than 1,600 firefighters were battling the flames, Cal Fire spokesman Daniel Berlant said, adding that receding winds on Sunday evening had allowed crews to make progress cutting containment lines around the flames and putting out hot spots.

The nearby community of Clear Lake was evacuated, and sheriff's deputies in Lake County were investigating burned-out structures.

Fire in Cajon Pass

Also on Tuesday, San Bernardino National Forest officials said a new wind-driven wildfire is quickly growing in the mountainous Cajon Pass area of Southern California near Interstate 15. The officials said the fire exploded to almost eight square kilometres in several hours.

Officials said it's not showing any signs of slowing down.

The blaze about 100 kilometres east of Los Angeles has burned what appear to be several ranch outbuildings and forced evacuations in and around Lytle Creek.

The area contains several dozen large homes and horse ranches.

Huge lines of flame are snaking along ridges above the communities.

Officials with the San Bernardino National Forest say five years of drought coupled with dry, hot weather have turned the entire area into a tinder box.

The fire forced a freight train to make an emergency stop and has closed portions of Highway 138 and Interstate 15 — a major desert freeway and the main route to Las Vegas.

Meanwhile, Highway 1 in central California has reopened after a daylong closure for the removal of fire-weakened trees north of Big Sur.

States of emergency declared

On Monday afternoon, California Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, declared states of emergency for the Clayton fire and another in San Luis Obispo County, the so-called Chimney fire, allowing local officials to get help from emergency response agencies statewide.

The Chimney fire was just 10 per cent contained by Monday evening.

It had scorched more than 2,185 hectares within less than 48 hours after erupting on Saturday afternoon, destroying a dozen structures and threatening about 200 more, with hundreds of residents being told to flee.

One of the season's largest fires so far, the Soberanes blaze, was 60 per cent contained by Monday. It burned through more than 30,189 hectares near scenic Big Sur, destroying 57 homes after it began on July 22.

A bulldozer operator died on July 26 when his tractor rolled over as he helped property owners battle the flames, this year's sixth wildfire fatality in California. Authorities have traced the Soberanes fire to an illegal campfire left unattended in a state park.