Furious California wildfire leaves trail of destruction

Cal Fire firefighter sets a backfire as he is silhouetted against the fire on Lone Pine Canyon Rd. in Wrightwood, Calif. early Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2016. Officials in charge of the battle against California's newest huge wildfire estimate that only about half of the 4,500 residents of the threatened town of Wrightwood have complied with evacuation orders. The fire is climbing the flanks of the San Gabriel Mountains, where Wrightwood sits at an elevation around 5,900 feet. (AP Photo/Rick McClure) Cal Fire firefighter sets a backfire as he is silhouetted against the fire on Lone Pine Canyon Rd. in Wrightwood, Calif. early Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2016. Officials in charge of the battle against California's newest huge wildfire estimate that only about half of the 4,500 residents of the threatened town of Wrightwood have complied with evacuation orders. The fire is climbing the flanks of the San Gabriel Mountains, where Wrightwood sits at an elevation around 5,900 feet. (AP Photo/Rick McClure)

By Associated Press August 18, 2016 4 min read

LOS ANGELES (AP) – What began as a small brush fire along a freeway in drought-stricken Southern California morphed into a massive blaze fueled by gusty winds and dry vegetation. Swift-moving flames gutted a historic Route 66 diner, burned homes to their foundations and forced tens of thousands of people to flee the Cajon Pass, a mountain pass between the San Bernardino Mountains and the San Gabriel Mountains.

A snapshot of the fire and its impacts:

EXPLOSIVE GROWTH

Wildfires have ripped through California in the past, but recent fires have grown stronger and hotter. A persistent statewide drought has killed scores of trees and dried out swaths of land, creating incendiary conditions.

The blaze that erupted Tuesday in a mountainous region about 60 miles east of Los Angeles quickly burned out of control in less than 24 hours, surprising even the most experienced firefighters.