MANTON, California: Fire officials say dozens of buildings, many of them likely homes, have been destroyed in a fire burning in Northern California.
State fire spokesman Daniel Berlant says fire crews assessing the fire in a rural area determined Tuesday that 50 buildings had been destroyed. The lightning-sparked blaze began on Saturday and continues to threaten hundreds of homes.
Officials did not have an accurate count yet of how many of the structures were homes, but Berlant noted the buildings were spread across a vast rural area of mostly residential homes.
The fire has forced the closure of major roads and prompted a declaration of emergency in Shasta county.
It is one of some three dozen fires raging around the western states, including several in California, thought to have consumed more than 1,500 sq miles, according to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho.
