Hundreds Evacuate Homes in California to Escape Wildfires

Two out- of- control wildfires in California has forced hundreds of people to abandon their homes, Sunday.

The fire which set off on Sunday afternoon near Bass Lake in Central California, forced authorities to evacuate nearly 1000 residents from about 400 homes, Madera County Sheriff's spokeswoman Erica Stuart said, reports the Associated Press.

"I know 10 structures have been destroyed already,'" Stuart said. 

According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the flames destroyed 21 structures. 

The fire reduced many homes to ashes in another neighborhood, reports the Associated Press citing Fresno Bee Newspaper.

This is gut-wrenching," CalFire Battalion Chief Chris Christopherson told the newspaper. "It makes you sick."

The fire originally began off a road outside of Oakhurst.  It then spread to the Bass lake area. The winds added fuel to the fire, and it quickly burned 320 acres, said California Fire spokesman Daniel Berlant, reports AP.

Authorities have controlled twenty percent of the fire.

Tammie Sterling, who  just moved to the area said that she knew something was amiss when her dogs started barking.

"I grabbed my husband's computer, some files, checkbooks, my dogs, some clothes and got in the car," Sterling said, reports CBS News.

Another wild fire, about 60 miles east of Sacramento, has forced the evacuation of 133 homes. 

El Dorado County Sheriff's officials have told the residents of another 406 homes to be prepared to evacuate, reports AP.

Berlant said that the fire started in an isolated area on Saturday. But it gained momentum when it reached a canyon full of dry brush and charred 4.7 square miles of land.

However, firefighters were able to control 10 percent of the fire, he said.

Meanwhile, evacuation orders for 200 homes in Orange County's Silverado Canyon in Southern California were lifted late Sunday as fire fighters were able to control 50 percent of the fire.