The Bobcat Fire was advancing at a mile or two an hour at times and continued to threaten the Mojave Desert town of Pearblossom after burning into the Antelope Valley foothill area, on the other side of the San Gabriel Mountains from Los Angeles.

The blaze that began Sept. 6 destroyed or damaged at least 29 homes and other buildings, including some in the Juniper Hills area, with the toll rising to perhaps 85 when damage assessment teams can complete their work this week, authorities said.

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 serving 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.

Near Mount Wilson, firefighters set more than a mile of fires designed to burn out the blaze’s fuel and act as a brake on its advance.

However, with the fire only about 15% contained, firefighters weren’t taking anything for granted.

“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, fire officials said Monday evening.

Evacuation warnings — meaning residents should be prepared to flee if ordered — remained in effect for the LA 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.

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 23,00 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, AP reported.

Numerous studies in recent years have linked bigger US 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.

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.

Twenty-six people have been killed. 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.

Charles Morton, 39, died on Sept. 17 while battling the El Dorado Fire in San Bernardino National Forest about 75 miles (120 kilometers) east of Los Angeles.

Morton, was a 14-year veteran of the US 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 US 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.

In Wyoming, officials warned that “a high probability for fire growth” exists for a blaze burning toward cabins and an important water supply reservoir that’s a major source of water for the state’s capital city, Cheyenne. The Mullen Fire in the Medicine Bow National Forest is burning in heavily forested, rugged terrain that would usually be busy now with hunters at the start of elk hunting season.

And in Colorado, one of the state’s largest wildfires continued to grow slowly, with firefighters benefiting as the flames spread into flatter ground Monday. Still, the Cameron Peak Fire near Red Feather Lakes had covered 162.7 square miles (421.39 square kilometers) and was just 15% contained. At higher elevations, it devoured many lodgepole pine trees killed by a beetle infestation.

More than 9,000 firefighters continue to battle large wildfires across Oregon and Washington, where thousands of residences have been destroyed, the Pacific Northwest Region of the Forest Service said.

Two of the deceased victims were discovered in one location, while the third was found separately, Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said, noting they had not yet been identified.

Out of 85 missing persons reports filed in relation to the fire, 12 have not yet been located, he added. Several others were severely wounded after being trapped overnight in the inferno, dubbed the ‘Bear Fire,’ according to CalFire Battalion Chief Sean Norman.

“We were rescuing people most of the night. We had several critical burn injuries of civilians we were able to rescue and bring into the fire station and then get them off the hill,” the fire chief said.

“Hundreds” of homes and other structures have been damaged or destroyed by the conflagration, which is part of the ‘North Complex’ fire ignited by lightning in August, fire officials told reporters on Wednesday evening. It recently reignited near Butte County during high winds, putting thousands of other buildings at risk as the fire continues to sweep the area.

Evacuation orders have been issued for Butte, Plumas and Yuba counties, while a number of evacuation centers were established for thousands of residents fleeing the blaze.

Eerie photos and videos have circulated on social media, showing the skies over California glowing a deep orange, which also enveloped the Golden Gate Bridge.

Those areas include Lake, Napa, San Mateo, Santa Cruz, Solano, Sonoma, and Yolo counties, according to a White House statement.

Hundreds of active fires in those areas have already burned around 1 million acres, according to Cal Fire officials.

The state is also battling two of the largest fires in the state’s history: the 314,000-acre LNU Lightning Complex Fire in the northern Bay Area and Central Valley, and the 291,000-acre SCU Lightning Complex Fire largely east of San Jose.

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) said Saturday that almost all firefighting resources in the state are in use. The California governor, who often spars with Trump, thanked him for approving the disaster relief, The Hill reported.

“Thank you to the President for your partnership and granting this urgent Major Disaster Declaration,” Newsom said in a statement. “California is battling two of the largest fires in our history and has seen nearly 600 new fires in the last week caused by dry lightning strikes. These are unprecedented times and conditions, but California is strong – we will get through this.”

On Thursday, Trump took aim at California officials as wildfires burned in the Bay Area, accusing them of improperly managing flammable debris in state forests leading to fires. During a speech in Pennsylvania, the president blamed the wildfires on “years” of poor forest management in California.

Newsom has said the current wave of fires are due to extraordinary weather in the state, noting that California has recorded more than 11,000 lightning strikes over the past 72 hours.