JULIAN, Calif. (AP) – A wildfire destroyed two homes, threatened hundreds more and forced the cancellation of a Fourth of July parade and celebration in a historic gold-mining town in San Diego County.
The blaze that broke out Thursday near the mountain town of Julian was one of several burning across the state, including one in Northern California’s Napa County that had also burned two homes and had grown to more than 6 square miles.
The San Diego County fire erupted around 10:30 a.m. prompted the mandatory evacuation of 200 homes in near Julian. The evacuations were canceled by the end of the day as firefighters had the 150-acre blaze 15 percent contained, state fire Capt. Kendal Bortisser said.
But the threat to homes remained and the city would take the year off from its festive Fourth of July celebration that usually draws from 3,000 to 5,000 people.
“It’s a big day for Julian,” Michael Hart, publisher of local paper The Julian News told U-T San Diego.