A week before Thanksgiving, more than 100 residents were displaced Thursday by a wind-whipped wildfire that ravaged a remote mountain community in California and killed one person, authorities said.
The inferno struck with sudden ferocity midday Tuesday during strong winds high in the eastern Sierra Nevada, destroying more than 80 structures, including homes, in the unincorporated town of Walker near the Nevada state line, according to the Mono County Sheriff’s Office.
By early Wednesday, rain and snow were falling, reducing the fire to smoldering remnants after it scorched over 32 square miles.
By then, grave damage had been done to Walker, a community of widely spaced homes and businesses perched in a valley along a highway and the West Walker River, a six-hour drive north of Los Angeles. Homes and outbuildings were reduced to charred rubble. One person was dead, but authorities haven’t released details yet.