Thousands of people flee the flame race through rural dry California

A tanker drops a self-timer on a forest fire that burns over the community of Spring Lakes near Clearlake Oaks, California.

(AP)

CLEARLAKE OAKS, Calif. – Wind-blown forest fires destroyed buildings and threatened hundreds of others as they traversed dry scrub in rural northern California.

The Pawnee fire, which erupted on Saturday near the Clearlake Oaks community, destroyed 12 buildings and threatened 600 others. On Sunday, there was no confinement and it burned about 12 square miles. The authorities ordered people to evacuate all homes in the Spring Valley area, where about 3,000 people live.

"What we emphasize is that people, when they get the evacuation order, respect it immediately and go out until it's safe to come back" said Jonathan Cox, battalion chief of the Department of Forests and Fire Protection. "It's one of four big fires burning in northern California, which reminds us that the fire season is imminent."

The uneven winds and heat that blew California from San Jose to the Oregon border propelled the flames, which were north of the wine region where devastating fires killed 44 people and destroyed thousands of homes and businesses last October.

Further north, a fire that stretches about three-quarters of a mile in Tehama County has destroyed "several residential and commercial buildings," Cal Fire said. But the fire department seemed to be making good progress – Stoll's fire was half-contained and some evacuees were allowed to return home, the authorities said.

A second fire in Tehama County consumed 5.5 square miles, but no building was burned. The so-called Lane Fire threatened 200 structures and some homes were evacuated, said Cox. It was 10% content.

A fire in neighboring Shasta County rose to 1.6 square miles and was contained at 20%. The so-called stream fire did not damage any structure but evacuated quickly.

The cause of each fire was under investigation Sunday. Nobody was hurt.

More than 230 firefighters using helicopters, bulldozers and other equipment were fighting against Pawnee fire in a hilly area that made it difficult to get close to the equipment.

"It's sort of the worst combination possible," Cox said.

Matthew Henderson, who was in the area taking pictures, said he saw the fire jump on a road to a place, briefly cutting off access to a part of Spring Valley until the firefighters repel him.