A community 100 miles north of San Francisco has been ravaged by a 3,000-acre wildfire that has destroyed almost 200 buildings and forced 1,400 residents to evacuate. The entire town of Lower Lake was evacuated over the weekend as the blaze spread. The fire quickly doubled in size Sunday as extreme heat combined with dry weather conditions. Among the incinerated structures was a post office, a winery, and other small businesses. Planes were dropping fire retardant and thousands of gallons of water on the fire Sunday and Monday, a fire department spokesman said. It was only 5 percent contained by Monday morning.
