Couple loses home in Kincade Fire, husband finds wedding ring hidden in ashes

Residents are returning home after California's largest evacuation in history to find their home still standing or their belongings scattered in ashes.

While sifting through her charred possessions, Bernadette Laos was able to salvage jewelry and her husband's wedding ring from her home that was destroyed by the Kincade Fire near Geyserville, California.

A friend of Bernadette Laos displays jewelry salvaged from her home that was destroyed by the Kincade Fire near Geyserville, California. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

"We left in our pajamas and that was it, but we came back and we found my husband's wedding ring," Laos told AccuWeather reporter Bill Wadell in an interview.

Wadell reported it took them hours of searching, but they wouldn't give up.

Justo and Burnadette Laos show a photo of the home they rented that was destroyed by the Kincade Fire near Geyserville, California. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

"I'm still in shock there's nothing like going home," Laos said.

The swath of destructive wildfires continues to ravage California as windy, dry conditions have provided ample fuel for the fast-growing blazes over the past two weeks. As of Friday morning, eight notable wildfires have consumed nearly 90,000 acres combined in the state. AccuWeather estimates the total economic impact from fires during the 2019 California fire season will reach $80 billion.

The Maria Fire was the most recent wildfire and has proved to be troublesome as it burns in Ventura County. The fire ignited shortly after 6 p.m. PDT on Thursday, and took less than a day to grow nearly 9,000 acres, one of the fastest-growing blazes of the year.

Located north of Somis, the brush fire has been fueled by the Santa Ana wind event and was 70% contained as of Monday morning. Ventura County Fire Chief Mark Lorenzen said on Thursday night that crews were working to keep the blaze away from L.A. Avenue and important avocado orchards.

"This is a wind-driven fire that started on the ridgeline above the upper ridge of South Mountain Road," Ventura County Fire Department (VCFD) Capt. Brian McGrath said on Friday night. "Firefighters are working very diligently and aggressively on this fire. We do have structure protection in place."

Evacuations were ordered for 7,500 people while nearly 2,000 structures were within the evacuation zone. Capt. Steve Kauffman told reporters that two structures had been destroyed thus far.

The largest wildfire of the year, the Kincade Fire has burned nearly 80,000 acres in Northern California since igniting on Oct. 23. After starting in Sonoma Valley, the fire initially displaced nearly 200,000 residents before evacuation warnings were lifted.

Crews have managed to contain 78% of the blaze as of Sunday evening, but not before it destroyed 374 structures, burning down a historic winery, crashing a series of wedding photos and forcing a couple to sort through rubble to find a wedding ring.

More than 900,000 customers in the surrounding regions of the fire have experienced Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) as Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) attempted to minimize fire risks by deactivating power lines. However, their efforts may not have been effective, as a transmission tower was reportedly malfunctioning around the same time the fire began at the place of ignition.

Friday afternoon, the California Highway Patrol reported that there had been a fatal collision on Lakeville Highway in Sonoma County. The CHP told CBS San Francisco that one person had been killed in a head-on collision involving a CAL Fire vehicle and a Jeep. The person killed hadn't been in the CAL Fire vehicle, the CHP told the news station.

The Easy Fire ignited on Wednesday of this week and quickly became difficult for firefighters to manage. Consuming close to 2,000 acres in Ventura County, the fire sent residents and horses scattering.

The blaze also came dangerously close to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, but a library spokesperson said a flock of goats is to thank for the building's escaping the flames. Each May, the VCFD brings hundreds of goats to the library to eat the potentially flammable grass and brush in order to create a perimeter around the library.

"The firefighters on the property said that the fire break really helped them because as the fire was coming up that one hill, all the brush has been cleared, basically," spokeswoman Melissa Giller said.

Located in Simi Valley about 40 miles northwest of Los Angeles, the fire ignited near the 118 Freeway and Madera Road and quickly spread toward neighborhoods, forcing officials to enact widespread mandatory evacuations, which have since been lifted. According to Kaufmann, 7,000 homes were threatened by the blaze on Wednesday.

As of Friday morning, 80% of the fire was contained.

The notable blaze of Thursday morning was the Hillside Fire, which erupted with quick-hitting severity in San Bernardino. It took just two hours for Santa Ana winds to grow the fire from three acres to more than 200. Despite its smaller size of acreage burned, the fast spread of the storm forced officials to immediately order 1,300 residents to evacuate.

The San Bernardino County Fire Department (SBCFD) announced that the blaze destroyed six homes and damaged 18 others.

On Friday morning, SBCFD announced that crews managed to make good progress thanks to favorable weather.

The Getty Fire captured national attention on Monday morning when it threatened the Brentwood and Westside communities in Los Angeles. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti called the wildfire "an act of God" and said the cause for the ignition of the blaze was wind that blew dried tree branches onto power lines.

The fire also temporarily threatened the billion-dollar campus of the Getty Center. Home to the Getty Museum, the campus was well-protected by wildfire-resistant architecture and maintained by a herd of 300 goats that annually eat the flammable vegetation.

Numerous celebrities were forced to evacuate from their homes because of flames approaching communities. LeBron James and Arnold Schwarzenegger both took to Twitter to thank first responders after they evacuated.

The ignition of the blaze was captured on a civilian's dashcam. According to the LAFD, at least 10 structures had been destroyed and 15 others have been damaged. The blaze is just under 800 acres with 79% containment as of Monday morning. All mandatory evacuation zones and warnings were lifted on Friday morning after 7,000 residences were initially threatened.

A smaller fire in Jurupa Valley, the Hill Fire was quickly handled by fire crews but still managed to force mandatory evacuations. The blaze broke out near Granite Hill Drive and Pyrite Street, according to Cal Fire.

A group of senior citizens was quickly rushed to safety on Wednesday in a frantic evacuation.

The wildfire ignited on Wednesday morning and grew to over 600 acres. Multiple structures were damaged by the storm, including an area of mobile homes.

The Burris Fire has been burning since Oct. 27, but firefighting crews managed to corral the blaze quickly before it grew more than 700 acres. The blaze began in Mendocino County and initially forced mandatory evacuations that have since been lifted.

Burning in a similar area as last year's record-shattering Mendocino Complex Fire, the fire caused Cal Fire Mendocino to put out a red flag warning through Wednesday. As of Saturday morning, the blaze was at 96% containment.

Another smaller blaze that forced officials to make immediate evacuations was the 46 Fire in Riverside. The 328-acre blaze was at 100% containment on Sunday. While evacuations were lifted, officials urged residents to "use caution returning home and yield to fire equipment working in the area," the Riverside Fire Department said on its website.

The fire originated in a field near Crestmore Road after a police pursuit ended in a car crash, the Riverside County Sheriff's Department told the Los Angeles Times. Two people were arrested at the scene after they had run from the vehicle, Riverside police said in a Facebook post about the incident.

The 23-year-old Bryan Anguiano was arrested and booked into the Robert Presley Detention Center for multiple charges, including felony evading, car theft, possession of a stolen vehicle and an outstanding felony warrant for burglary and false impersonation, Riverside Police said. CAL Fire Arson Investigators will also charge Anguiano with arson violations related to the cause of the fire, the post added.

The 28-year-old Kevin Hildago was also arrested and booked into the Robert Presley Detention Center for an outstanding felony warrant for violation of Post-Release Community Supervision, Riverside Police said.

Early Thursday morning, the police had identified the black, 2014 Dodge Dart as a stolen vehicle they had previously been unable to locate, police said. They followed the vehicle as it traveled northbound on Van Buren Boulevard toward Jurupa Avenue.

Police activated the emergency lights and sirens, but the car didn't pull over. The ensuing pursuit lasted for 15 minutes, cutting through the Jurupa Valley community. Near the end, the Dodge jumped a few curves and plowed through fencing near a large, empty field near Crestmore Road. The crash damaged the tires, according to the police, and the car was disabled in the field.

The two suspects fled from the car, though police quickly apprehended them. Riverside police suspect heat from the stolen vehicle's wheels ignited a fire underneath it, after which the car became fully engulfed in flames- and then the field caught fire.

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