By Monday night, fast-moving weekend wildfires in Valley and Butte, in Northern California, had destroyed 700 homes and 1,000 other structures. 143,523 acres were burned and 23,000 people in total were displaced. The flash fires sent residents running for their lives when they raced through dry brush and exploded in size within hours. Ranchers are losing millions of dollars’ worth of grazing land and cattle. On Tuesday those who fled the flames had a chance briefly to return home to retrieve pets and feed livestock. They were escorted to their homes by the County sheriff’s department and had to provide an ID confirming their address in the evacuation zone. This summer's fires are the most volatile in 30 years, caused by extremely dry conditions from a drought. Bushes and trees have absolutely no moisture in them and humidity is so low that these 'fire starts' just erupt into infernos.