MINERAL, Calif. — Twisted sheets of metal, the hulks of pickup trucks and brick walls were all that was left of homes once sheltered by green pine and cedar trees.
In a rural Northern California subdivision that was the latest to feel the wrath of massive Western wildfires, pine needles bent back on themselves, unburned but dried to a brittle dusty gray by the intense heat of the Ponderosa fire.
Thousands of residents of tiny rural communities just outside Lassen Volcanic National Park who had been forced to flee soon after the fire was ignited by lightning Saturday were allowed to return home Wednesday.
While the fire was 57 percent contained, with full containment forecast for early next week, 900 other homes were threatened Thursday as the fire burned a new front to the south.
Don Camp, a state fire spokesman, said 64 residences have been destroyed mostly in the Manton area. More than 2,100 firefighters were at the scene.
The blaze had grown to 44 square miles in the hills about 25 miles southeast of Redding.
“All our efforts are focused on keeping the fire out of the park,” Camp said.
Also in California, a large wildfire in Plumas National Forest continued to expand, helped by gusty winds. The blaze, about 120 miles north of Sacramento, has consumed 99 square miles since it started at the end of July and threatens about 900 homes. It was 40 percent contained Thursday.
Wildfires also continued burning in central Idaho and in Washington, where one blaze has destroyed 51 homes and 26 outbuildings and damaged at least six other homes, authorities said.
