On Thursday, the Erskine fire broke out in central California, leaving 150 homes destroyed and over 7o severely damaged. On Saturday, officials warned more residents that they may need to evacuate in case the fire grows larger and reaches them.
According to RushHourDaily, more than 1,100 firefighters have been battling the fire and there has been zero progress made in containing the blaze as of Saturday afternoon. The Governor of California, Jerry Brown, has declared a state of emergency for Kern County.
Two unidentified victims have been reported dead in the fire and according to the Los Angeles Times, investigators believe to have found remains of a third body within a mobile home in South Lake. The County Sheriff spokesman Ray Pruitt told the LA Times that “we are treating it like a crime scene. It appears to be one set of human remains, pretty badly burned.”
The Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood has made a statement to the press on Friday evening stating that authorities may discover more fatalities once they are able to search more areas where the fire has caused extensive damage.
California has been suffering from a five-year drought, leaving the state with hot, dry weather making it more difficult for the firemen to tame the fire.
The fire has caused extensive damage, destroying ver a hundred homes and causing thousands of residents to evacuate from their homes, not knowing whether or not if they will return to their homes intact. Sergeant Henry Bravo spoke to the evacuees on Saturday and empathized with them, stating “my heart goes out to everyone here who has lost a home and my heart goes out to the family that perished yesterday in the fire.”
RushHourDaily also reported that in southern California, another so-called San Gabriel Complex fire is blazing in the foothills of Los Angeles County. Two fires have started on Friday and neither fire has been fully contained yet, more as it develops.
