By BRIAN SKOLOFF
Associated Press WriterBIG BEAR LAKE, Calif. (AP) -- Some Californians are being allowed to return to their fire-ravaged neighborhoods, and many are finding little left to salvage.
"Everything we've worked for 37 years is gone," said Diana Thornton, whose home was among more than 850 destroyed by a wildfire that burned across 91,000 acres in and near the San Bernardino National Forest.
The fire was one of several huge blazes that have killed 20 people, destroyed more than 3,400 homes and scorched more than 750,000 acres since igniting around Southern California nearly two weeks ago. After days of devastation, firefighters, aided by cooler, calmer weather, began getting the upper hand on most of them over the weekend.
By early Monday, the fire that devastated Thornton's home was 78 percent contained and a nearby blaze was 95 percent contained. In San Diego County, a 281,000-acre fire - the largest individual blaze in California history - was 90 percent contained.
Other large blazes included a fire in San Diego County, which was 75 percent contained; and a Ventura County blaze that was 80 percent contained. A fire in Simi Valley was fully contained.
The progress was of little solace to Thornton and her husband, Larry. It took them decades to earn their home, a 2,400-square-foot getaway nestled in the mountains. It took only hours for the house to go up in flames.
"This was our retirement dream house," said Larry Thornton, a former Navy seal and Vietnam veteran. "All the stuff I went through in Vietnam, and I came back OK from that... this is just about as devastating."
Neighbor Kim Thurman returned to find nothing left of the turn-of-the-century cabin she had lived in for 22 years but ashes and charred wood.
"I have cried and cried. I go through periods of incredible optimism and so much sadness that it goes right down and it hurts my toenails," said Thurman, 55.
"These are just things. I have all these memories in my heart," she added as she dug through the rubble with her leather-gloved hands. She managed to save some gardening tools hanging from a fence and discovered four ceramic squirrels her mother gave her.
"Your identity, your security, your safety, it's all your home, and when it's gone... " Thurman said, trailing off.
She paused, swallowed hard and shook her head: "All of a sudden, nothing feels real."
Irene Franklin, of Crestline, was one of the lucky ones; her home was unscathed.
"You get so depressed down the hill, watching it on TV," she said. "You're worried your house will be burned down, but at the same time you realize people are losing their lives. A house can be rebuilt."
Residents were allowed back into all communities except Twin Peaks, Blue Jay, Rim Forest, Sky Forest, Lake Arrowhead, Cedar Glen, Running Springs, Arrowbear and Green Valley.
Those towns remained off-limits because of concerns about mudslides, falling rocks and trees, and damage to Highway 18, the area's major thoroughfare. A firefighter was injured Sunday when a tree fell on him along Highway 18 near Crestline, said Richard Wisehart, a U.S. Forest Service fire information officer. He was reported in stable condition at a local hospital.
