Most California wildfire evacuees allowed to return home

PALMDALE, Calif. Nearly 3,000 California residents are being allowed to return home after evacuating their homes during a massive wildfire.

Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. Dave Coleman said Monday that most residents in the rural communities of Lake Hughes and Elizabeth Lake north of Los Angeles could return to their homes as of 4 p.m. Monday.

One small area remains under a mandatory evacuation order.

The more than 46-square-mile Powerhouse Fire forced 2,800 people from 700 homes on Saturday.

The fire started Thursday and has destroyed at least six homes and damaged 15 others.

Firefighters had doubled containment of the blaze to 40 percent by Monday, as cool, moist air moved in to replace torrid weather. The flames moved out of rugged mountains and onto the floor of the high desert Antelope Valley, where the fire became easier to fight.

"The fire moved into an area where vegetation changed from real dense to real sparse," U.S. Forest Service spokesman Matt Corelli said.

With only widely scattered homes in the area, firefighters were able to work more on attacking flames than on structure protection, he said.

At least six houses have been destroyed by the fire, nine more were damaged, and 2,800 people fled 700 homes in Lake Hughes and Lake Elizabeth, 45 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles.

"It was bad. Big flames, a lot of ash, smoke," resident Ed Yost told CBS Los Angeles.

During the weekend, flames were fanned by unpredictable winds that pushed hotspots in different directions.

Reader, 44, said he was astounded to see how fast-flying embers blew from a ridge a half-mile away and across Lake Hughes to suddenly ignite brush near his backyard.

"It just jumped right over the lake, no problem," he said.

Reader received word that his house survived, but the fate of neighbors' homes, some of which have been occupied for generations, was still unclear.

"I'm absolutely nervous, I'm nervous for all of them," he said.

About 2,100 firefighters took on the flames, aided by water-dropping helicopters and airplanes unleashing loads of retardant across the flanks of the fire.

The cause of the fire was under investigation. Three firefighters had minor injuries, but no one else was hurt.