Publication Date July 25, 2016 | ABC News

Winds Revive California Fire, Chasing Thousands From Homes

United States
A wildfire in northern Los Angeles County gains ferocious new power two days after it broke out in Placenta Caynon Road in Santa Clarita, Calif., Sunday, July 24, 2016. Flames raced down a steep hillside "like a freight train," leaving smoldering remains of homes and forcing thousands to flee the wildfire churning through tinder-dry canyons in Southern California, authorities said Sunday. Photo: Matt Hartman / AP
A wildfire in northern Los Angeles County gains ferocious new power two days after it broke out in Placenta Caynon Road in Santa Clarita, Calif., Sunday, July 24, 2016. Flames raced down a steep hillside "like a freight train," leaving smoldering remains of homes and forcing thousands to flee the wildfire churning through tinder-dry canyons in Southern California, authorities said Sunday. Photo: Matt Hartman / AP

The flames ripped through at least 51 square miles of dry brush and destroyed at least 18 homes, but those numbers could take a leap when a better assessment is done early Monday. Heat could keep posing a problem in the fight, with the mercury expected to climb into the triple digits.

About 10,000 homes have been ordered evacuated, according to the county's fire incident webpage. It came after a man's burned body was found in the fire zone this weekend, a death that was under investigation