Burned body found as wildfire burns near Los Angeles

Heavy smoke from a wildfire is seen from Golden Valley Road and Five Knolls Drive Santa Clarita, Calif., on Saturday, July 22, 2016. The fire in northern Los Angeles County grew, darkening skies with smoke that spread across the city and suburbs, reducing the sun to an orange disk at times. The South Coast Air Quality Management District warned that at times air would reach unhealthy levels. The fire erupted Friday afternoon in the Sand Canyon area near State Route 14 as the region was gripped by high heat and very low humidity. (Katharine Lotze/The Santa Clarita Valley Signal via AP) Heavy smoke from a wildfire is seen from Golden Valley Road and Five Knolls Drive Santa Clarita, Calif., on Saturday, July 22, 2016. The fire in northern Los Angeles County grew, darkening skies with smoke that spread across the city and suburbs, reducing the sun to an orange disk at times. The South Coast Air Quality Management District warned that at times air would reach unhealthy levels. The fire erupted Friday afternoon in the Sand Canyon area near State Route 14 as the region was gripped by high heat and very low humidity. (Katharine Lotze/The Santa Clarita Valley Signal via AP)

By Associated Press July 24, 2016 3 min read

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Thousands of homes remained evacuated Sunday as two massive wildfires raged in tinder-dry California hills and canyons, and authorities said a burned body was found in one neighborhood swept by the flames.

The body was discovered Saturday evening outside a home on Iron Canyon Road in Santa Clarita, just north of Los Angeles, and detectives are trying to determine whether the person was killed by the blaze or another cause, Los Angeles County sheriff’s Lt. Rob Hahnlein said.

The home also may have burned, he said.

The area was among those ordered evacuated as the fire raged through brush withered by days of 100-degree temperatures as Southern California sweltered through a heat wave. Since Friday, the fire, propelled by gusty winds, has burned up and down ridgelines, blackening 31 square miles of brush on the edge of Santa Clarita and the Angeles National Forest.

It was 10 percent contained late Saturday night.