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'Gone, absolutely gone,' is refrain of California wildfire

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[h=4]'Gone, absolutely gone,' is refrain of California wildfire[/h]Charred cars, ash and smoldering power lines are the remains of the huge and largely unchecked Valley Fire that swept through California's Lake County this weekend.

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As California residents continue to be evacuated from their homes, a brief respite in the weather leaves some firefighters hopeful for containment. But it was too late for some families as their homes were completely destroyed. VPC


Deanna Hingst, right, embraces her mother, Shirley Leuzinger, at the family's destroyed home Sept. 14 in Middletown, Calif.(Photo: Elaine Thompson, AP)


MIDDLETOWN, Calif. —<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Corie Barloggi looked across a charred field in this once scenic Northern California town, best known for hot springs and its proximity to Napa Valley, and was struck by what she didn't see: her neighbors' homes.
"They're gone, absolutely gone," the third-grade teacher said as firefighting airplanes circled above<span style="color: Red;">*</span>and the wind whipped ashes across charred trees and smoldering power lines.
These grey and lifeless<span style="color: Red;">*</span>images, more reminiscent of war than the mellow gold hills that draw retirees here, are the remains of<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the huge and largely unchecked Valley Fire that swept through California's Lake County this weekend, destroying at least 400 homes in the town and nearby area about 90 miles north of San Francisco.
The fire, intensified by the state's extreme drought conditions, resulted in the death of one person and<span style="color: Red;">*</span>displaced<span style="color: Red;">*</span>13,000 people.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>At 65,000 acres, it<span style="color: Red;">*</span>was only 5% contained late Monday.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>About 200 miles away, southeast of Sacramento, the Butte wildfire, about 30% contained, has destroyed about 80 homes and burned 71,000 acres.
USA TODAY
One dead, hundreds of Northern California homes burn in wildfires




Barloggi and her husband Ken were at a barbecue Saturday when the fire broke out. They rushed home to collect their puppy, Miss Belle, and Ken's heart medication, but found their evacuation blocked by downed power lines
Their single-family ranch home survived, however,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>perhaps helped by Ken's decision to plow the fields around their house.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>"We got extremely lucky," said Corie, 48.
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A wildfire ravaged an apartment complex with more than 100 units in Middletown, Calif., on Sept. 13.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Kent Porter, EPA)

Other parts of Middletown were far worse. <span style="color: Red;">*</span>As the fire hop-scotched across town, one apartment building was reduced to rubble. Some power lines were still burning,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>throwing up orange flames across the grey haze.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Roosters crowed in the otherwise near-silence near the shells of burned out cars and houses.
Power officials<span style="color: Red;">*</span>worked<span style="color: Red;">*</span>furiously to restore power, but they fought a losing battle. Flames licked at many poles, several of which appeared ready to snap, nearly burned through.<span style="color: Red;">*</span> Around the corner flapped<span style="color: Red;">*</span>a metal street sign, melted and bent from the intense fire's heat.
Most homeowners and residents were<span style="color: Red;">*</span>kept out of the area, which is instead filled with sheriff's deputies and highway patrol officers monitoring the evacuation zone for looters.
Many evacuees from Middletown and the surrounding areas in Lake County have had to pick up quickly and leave many of their belongings behind. The American Red Cross opened two shelters in neighboring town Calistoga, Calif., at the Napa Fairgrounds and a local high school.
"People are telling me they were given five or six minutes to get whatever they could and get out. If you're an animal person and most of us up here are, that means you grab your pet," said Jeff Charter, director of the Petaluma Animal Services Foundation.
Charter says they've seen about 400 companion animals: about 150 dogs, plus<span style="color: Red;">*</span>cats, goats, horses, pigs and reptiles.
"There's really no end in sight, people keep coming in," he said.
The fire also burned through the businesses that lure people from the San Francisco Bay Area looking for fresh air and a slower pace.
The clothing-optional Harbin Hot Springs yoga resort was burned through, as was the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Shed Horn Cellars winery.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>The winery-dense area has seen four other major fires that caused evacuations and mild damage in the last 60-75 days.
South of town, miles of white plastic fence surrounding the Langtry Vineyard have melted and slumped to the charred ground.
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