This is the heartbreaking moment California families returned to find their homes and their belongings destroyed by the Saddleridge Fire.
The wildfire broke out after 9pm on Thursday in Sylmar, north of Los Angeles, along the 210 Freeway. As of 8am on Friday, it had scorched more than 4,700 acres with zero containment.
Officials ordered more than 100,000 people to evacuate as the wildfire, fueled by winds, destroyed at least 25 homes in the Granada Hills, Porter Ranch and Oakridge Estates neighborhoods.
So far, two victims have been killed: a man in his late 50s and 89-year-old Lois Arvickson,.
Photographs captured a couple who returned to their home on Jolette Avenue in Granada Hills on Friday to find it had been burned to the ground and their car had been destroyed.
The couple’s neighbor Eyed Jarjour gave them hugs and comforted them as they walked among the rubble.
This is the heartbreaking moment families returned to find their homes and belongings destroyed by the Saddleridge Fire. Pictured: Eyed Jarjour (left) comforts a neighbor who lost her home on Jolette Avenue in Granada Hills, California, on Friday
The wildfire broke out after 9pm on Thursday in Sylmar, north of Los Angeles, along the 210 Freeway. Pictured: A couple walk with a firefighter to survey the scorched remains of their home and vehicle
Officials ordered more than 100,000 people to evacuate as the wildfire, fueled by winds, destroyed at least 25 homes in the Granada Hills, Porter Ranch and Oakridge Estates neighborhoods. Pictured: Eyad Jarjour (pictured) views his neighbor’s burned residence after flames from the Saddleridge Fire tore through the region in Granada Hills
A couple who returned to their home on Jolette Avenue in Granada Hills destroyed on Friday were comforted by a neighbor, Eyed Jarjour (pictured)
Orange County firefighters work knock down a house fire on Singing Hills Drive that was burned by the Saddleridge Fire in Porter Ranch on Friday morning
A burned home smolders on Friday after flames from the Saddleridge Fire tore through the region in Granada Hills the previous night
Photographs show the couple’s home in Granada Hills before (left) and after (right) was burned by the Saddleridge Fire
Lois Arvickson, 89 (pictured), of Calimesa, had been missing since Thursday night after the Sandalwood Fire swept through the mobile home park where she lived
The first confirmed fatality was a man his late 50s went into cardiac arrest as a result of the blaze on Thursday night. Paramedics performed CPR and transported the man to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
On Friday, it was confirmed that 89-year-old Arvickson perished while she was trying to escape the Sandalwood Fire that swept through her mobile home park on Thursday night.
Arvickson’s son, Don Turner, said she went missing on Thursday night after the wind-driven wildfire swept through a Southern California mobile home park, destroying dozens of residences.
Turner said Arvickson called from her cellphone to say she was evacuating shortly after the blaze was reported in the Calimesa area.
‘She said she’s getting her purse and she’s getting out, and the line went dead,’ he said.
Arvickson’s neighbors saw in her garage as flames approached, according to Turner. A short time later the neighbors saw the garage on fire, but they don’t know if she’d managed to escape, he said.
Leanne Sutter, a reporter for ABC 7 said in a Facebook post on Friday her family confirmed the news of her death.
Terrifying footage shows crews battling a California wildfire fueled by winds as homes burned and thousands of people were forced to evacuate. Pictured: Firefighters work to extinguish the Saddleridge Fire in Porter Ranch on Friday
The fire, known as the Saddleridge Fire, broke out after 9pm on Thursday in Sylmar, north of Los Angeles. Pictured: A helicopter drops water to help fight flames as the Saddleridge Fire in the Porter Ranch section of Los Angeles on Friday
The blaze began by the 210 Freeway near Yarnell Street and jumped the highway. Pictured: Flames from the Saddleridge fire make a run up a hillside in Porter Ranch on Friday morning
Fire officials said the Saddleridge Fire consumed more than 4,700 acres by 8am on Friday with zero containment. Pictured: A singed rabbit jumps over a fire as the Saddleridge Fire progresses in Porter Ranch on Friday morning
This map shows where the various fires in California are blazing, including the most recent Saddleridge Fire
This map shows where the fires in Los Angeles are burning including the evacuation zones. Mandatory evacuation zones are colored in red
According to Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Ralph Terrazas, the Saddleridge Fire is burning at a rate of 800 acres per hour.
As you can imagine the embers from the wind have been traveling a significant distance which causes another fire to start,’ he said.
Dozens of schools and universities were closed as administrators urged to students to stay safe.
Meanwhile, the nearby Sandlewood fire continued to rage on.
According to Riverside County officials, the fire started when trash being hauled caught fire and the driver dumped the load alongside the road to prevent the truck from being set ablaze.
Dry grass quickly ignited and winds gusting to 50mph blew the fire into the Villa Calimesa Mobile Home Park, about 75 miles east of downtown Los Angeles.
Fire officials were investigating what caused the trash in the truck to catch fire in Calimesa.
No injuries have been reported aside from a firefighter who suffered a ‘minor’ eye injury and was transported to a hospital for treatment.
‘We need people to leave now while they can,’ fire officials said during a press conference Friday morning, according to FOX 11. ‘If you stay in [mandatory evacuation] areas we cannot guarantee that we will save you.’
Only 10 percent of 800 acres of the Sandalwood Fire contained as of Friday morning, the Riverside County Fire Department said.
Much of northern California, from San Francisco to the Oregon border, remains under a state ‘red flag’ fire alert.
A house on Hampton Court smolders as firefighters battle the Saddleridge fire on Friday in Porter Ranch
A firefighter walks through the smoke after battling the Saddleridge Fire all night in Porter Ranch on Friday
A plane dropped a red retardant, a substance used to slow or stop the spread of fire or reduce its intensity, over Sylmar, where the Saddleridge Fire began, on Friday morning
A firefighter keeps an eye on the wildfire burning behind Olive View Medical Center in Sylmar on Friday
Firefighter walk alongside the blaze burning behind Olive View Medical Center in Sylmar on Friday