MIDDLETOWN, Calif. (AP) – California fire officials said a wildfire north of San Francisco destroyed another 162 homes, raising the number of homes destroyed to 1,050 and making it the third worst wildfire in the state’s history.
The tally announced on Sunday brought the total number of homes destroyed in two wildfires burning in Northern California to nearly 1,600, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said. Those fires killed five people, and on Sunday authorities announced that a body was found in the ashes of a wildfire in Monterey County that destroyed or damaged 10 homes.
Firefighters found the man’s body inside a charred vehicle after the fire began Saturday near the community of Jamesburg. Investigators were investigating his death as a possible suicide, Monterey County Sheriff’s spokesman John Thornburg said.
A firefighter lost his home while battling the blaze, the Santa Cruz Sentinel reported.
“I was out fighting the fire on the other end, and then my whole place burned down,” Bob Eaton, a volunteer firefighter with the Cachagua Fire Protection District, told the newspaper. “My parent’s house, right below me, it burned down. And my neighbors up on top, their place is burned down.”