PICTURED: Firefighter, 39, and U.S. Forest Service veteran who died in gender reveal wildfire as the Bobcat fire threatens more than 1,000 homes and is now bigger than city of Denver
Authorities have identified the firefighter who is one of 26 people who have been killed in the disastrous wildfire wreaking havoc across the West.
Charles Morton, 39, died on September 17 while battling the El Dorado Fire in San Bernardino National Forest about 75 miles east of Los Angeles. The fire erupted from a smoke-generating pyrotechnic device used by a couple to reveal their baby's gender.
Morton, was a 14-year veteran of the U.S. Forest Service and a squad boss with the Big Bear Interagency Hotshot Crew of the San Bernardino National Forest.
'Charlie was a well-respected leader who was always there for his squad and his crew at the toughest times,' said U.S. Forest Service Chief Vicki Christiansen.
'Charlie is survived by his wife and daughter, his parents, two brothers, cousins, and friends. He's loved and will be missed. May he rest easy in heaven with his baby boy,' Morton's family said in a statement.
A funeral procession wass held for Morton in San Bernadino on Tuesday.
Morton, was a 14-year veteran of the U.S. Forest Service and a squad boss with the Big Bear Interagency Hotshot Crew of the San Bernardino National Forest
A funeral procession is held for the death of Big Bear Interagency Hotshot firefighter Charles Morton in San Bernadino on Tuesday
Firefighters line up to form a procession for Morton, described as a 'well-respected leader'
The touching tribute come as a wildfire scorching its way through brush and timber from the mountains to the desert northeast of Los Angeles threatened more than 1,000 homes on Tuesday as crews across the West battled dozens of other major blazes. An airplane approaches a plume of smoke from the Bobcat Fire burning in the Angeles National Forest on Monday
The touching tribute comes as a wildfire scorching its way through brush and timber from the mountains to the desert northeast of Los Angeles threatened more than 1,000 homes on Tuesday as crews across the West battled dozens of other major blazes.
The Bobcat Fire in Southern California was advancing at one to two miles (1.6 to 3.2 kilometers) per hour at times and threatened the Mojave Desert town of Pearblossom after burning into the Antelope Valley foothill area, across the San Gabriel Mountains from Los Angeles.
The blaze that began Sept. 6 has destroyed or damaged at least 29 homes and other buildings, with the toll rising to perhaps 85 when damage assessment teams can complete their work this week, authorities said.
Cheryl Poindexter lost her desert home.
'That fire came over the hill so hard and fast that I turned around and I barely got my eight dogs and my two parrots out,' Poindexter told ABC7. 'You can see everything is ash.'
Firefighters also battled flareups near Mount Wilson, which overlooks greater Los Angeles and has a historic observatory founded more than a century ago and numerous broadcast antennas that serve Southern California.
The fire was fueled by vegetation that hadn't burned in decades and pushed by erratic winds over the weekend, although they had died down by Monday, and were expected to remain light through Tuesday.
Numerous studies in recent years have linked bigger U.S. wildfires to global warming from the burning of coal, oil and gas, especially because climate change has made California much drier. A drier California means plants are more flammable.
This image taken from video and provided by the Orange County Fire Authority shows a firefighter saluting as a procession carrying Charles Morton
Dale Burton, of Leona Valley, tries to put out the fire that continues to smolder at his friend Cheryl Poindexter's property
Cheryl Poindexter returns to her property on Monday, after the Bobcat fire blazed through the area
Near Mount Wilson, firefighters set more than a mile (1.6 kilometers) of fires designed to burn out the blaze's fuel and act as a brake on its advance.
'We´ve got a fire here that is bigger than the city of Denver, and it did it in two weeks,' said Sky Cornell with the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
About 1,100 homes and some 4,000 residents remained under evacuation orders and the fire was only 17 percent contained, fire officials said.
Evacuation warnings - meaning residents should be prepared to flee if ordered - remained in effect for the Los Angeles suburb of Pasadena, home of the Rose Bowl and the annual Rose Parade, and Wrightwood, a mountain community near several San Bernardino County ski resorts.
In this aerial photo provided by the U.S. Forest Service, smoke from a wildfire is in part of Medicine Bow National Forest
An aircraft drops fire retardant to fight the Bobcat Fire in the Angeles National Forest near Los Angeles, California on September 21
The blaze was one of more than two dozen major wildfires burning across California, including five of the largest in state history.
More than 5,600 square miles (14,500 square kilometers) have been charred, an area larger than the state of Connecticut, and at least 23,000 people remain evacuated statewide, Gov. Gavin Newsom said.
Early estimates are that 6,400 buildings have been destroyed across the state, but Newsom said 'by no stretch of the imagination do we think this tells the entire story.' Damage assessments are ongoing, he said.
Nearly 19,000 firefighters in California are currently battling 27 major blazes, Newsom said. At least 7,900 wildfires have erupted in the state this year, many during a mid-August barrage of dry lightning that ignited parched vegetation.
Numerous studies in recent years have linked bigger U.S. wildfires to global warming from the burning of coal, oil and gas, especially because climate change has made California much drier
The blaze was one of more than two dozen major wildfires burning across California, including five of the largest in state history
The Bobcat Fire is one of the largest ever in Los Angeles County and it has burned for more than two weeks. It's just 15 per cent contained.
Authorities said more than 1,700 firefighters are battling the blaze. The Angeles National Forest released a containment date of October 30.
Evacuation orders and warnings are in place for thousands of residents in foothill and desert communities, where semi-rural homes and a popular nature sanctuary have burned. No injuries have been reported.
An enormous wildfire that churned through mountains northeast of Los Angeles and into the Mojave Desert was still threatening homes on Monday as it burned across more than 103,000 acres. Embers float from a burning tree in Wrightwood, California, Monday morning
The Bobcat Fire is one of the largest ever in Los Angeles County and it has burned for more than two weeks. It's just 15 per cent contained
Authorities said more than 1,700 firefighters are battling the blaze. The Angeles National Forest released a containment date of October 30
Firefighters battle the Bobcat Fire near Wrightwood, California. The fire has burned across a large percentage of the Angeles National Forest and threatened the historic observatories on Mount Wilson
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Erratic winds that drove flames into the community of Juniper Hills over the weekend had died down, said US Forest Service fire spokesman Larry Smith.
'It's slightly cooler too, so hopefully that will be a help to firefighters,' Smith said.
Officials said it could be days before teams determine the scope of the destruction in the area about 50 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles.
Firefighters fought back against another flareup near Mount Wilson, which overlooks greater Los Angeles in the San Gabriel Mountains and has a historic observatory founded more than a century ago and numerous broadcast antennas serving Southern California.
The Bobcat Fire started September 6 and has doubled in size over the last week. The cause is under investigation.
The wildfire also destroyed the nature center at Devil's Punchbowl Natural Area, a geological wonder that attracts some 130,000 visitors per year.
The Bobcat Fire, as seen from the 105/605 interchange, continues to burn, becoming one of the largest fires in LA County history
Erratic winds that drove flames into the community of Juniper Hills (pictured on Sunday) over the weekend had died down, said US Forest Service fire spokesman Larry Smith
Officials said it could be days before teams determine the scope of the destruction in the area about 50 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles
The wildfire also destroyed the nature center at Devil's Punchbowl Natural Area (entrance pictured), a geological wonder that attracts some 130,000 visitors per year
A wildlife sanctuary on the property was undamaged, and staff and animals had been evacuated days earlier.
Nearly 19,000 firefighters in California are fighting more than two dozen major wildfires.
At least 7,900 wildfires have burned more than 6,000 square miles in the state this year, including many since a mid-August barrage of dry lightning ignited parched vegetation.
Officials were investigating the death of a firefighter at another Southern California wildfire that erupted earlier this month from a smoke-generating pyrotechnic device used by a couple to reveal their baby's gender.
The death occurred on September 17 in San Bernardino National Forest as crews battled the El Dorado Fire about 75 miles east of Los Angeles, the US Forest Service said in a statement.
Officials confirmed that the blaze is at 59 per cent containment.
The name of the firefighter killed has not yet been released. A statement from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, said it was the 26th death involving wildfires besieging the state.
Authorities also have not released the identities of the couple, who could face criminal charges and be held liable for the cost of fighting the fire.
In Wyoming, a rapidly growing wildfire in the southeastern part of the state on Sunday closed in on a reservoir that's a major source of water for the state's capital city, Cheyenne.
The water system remained safe and able to filter out ash and other burned material that flows through streams and reservoirs after wildfires, said Clint Bassett, water treatment manager for the Cheyenne Board of Public Utilities.
Flames have blackened a record 3.2 million acres in California alone since mid-August. Another 1.7 million acres have burned in Oregon and Washington state since Labor Day.
The blazes, described by scientists and officials as unprecedented in scope and ferocity, have largely incinerated several small towns, along with thousands of dwellings.