Some residents return as Blue Cut Fire destroys at least 96 homes

SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY (KFSN) -- Manuel Vasquez saw his sister and parent's home for the first time Friday in Wrightwood since being forced to evacuate.

He said, fortunately, the home made it but several other buildings on the property were lost.

"The utility sheds that they had, of course, they had some toys, trucks and stuff and it's all gone." he said. "We grabbed as many as we could and took off running."

The Blue Cut Fire is still burning thousands of acres but officials said it is moving more slowly than when it started.

"This is extreme fire behavior," Brad Patassi with Cal Fire said "We haven't seen fire act like this within this region - southern California. And we're not talking years, we're talking careers."

Vasquez said his family was lucky but that it's devastating to look at the damage around him.

"It's terrible to see the devastation around me," he said. "The neighbors, some people might not come back, they're homes are gone, everything is gone."

Heather Duffer lives in Ontario, California and said she has friends that have been affected by the massive fire. She and her 4-year-old daughter are donating clothes and toys to help people who have lost everything.

"People up there who don't have anywhere else to go, that have lost their homes, their businesses, their life," she sadi.

Fire personnel said that while containment is up, conditions can change in a second.

"The fuels that are burning are so extremely dry that if those flames kick up if their embers fly, where they land, it will light on fire.," Patassi said.

"It's going to be tough coming back to it," Vasquez said. "I know it was rough."

The Red Cross has had more than 300 people registered at both their Hesperia and Fontana evacuation centers with tens of thousands of homes remaining under evacuation orders.