Destructive California wildfires continue to ravage the West Coast [photos]

It's been a hot, dry and fiery summer for the residents of California.

The level of destruction from California wildfires is so bad that officials don't yet have a total count of destroyed homes, according to NBC News.

In the aftermath of all these wildfires, somebody has to figure out exactly what burned. It's painstaking and important work.

Determining the extent of damage

Operating from a mobile command center just south of a 58-square-mile blaze, Fire Marshal Mike Horton recently led a team of 15 investigators, technicians, hazardous materials experts and others responsible for determining the extent and nature of the damages, ABC News reported.

According to Horton, properties are often so decimated that it's difficult to know if a smoking ash heap was a home, a trailer or a water tank. Technicians consult mobile computer applications that can download geographic data and county assessors' information to learn what might have been there before flames swept through. Numerous photos are taken and each scene gets a description of what the team saw.

Fires now burning

Here's a list of some of the fires now burning in California (numbers updated Tuesday, Aug. 23), according to the Los Angeles Times:

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- Chimney fire: 37,101 acres burned and 52 structures destroyed in San Luis Obispo County; 35 percent contained (as of Tuesday); began Aug. 13.
- Blue Cut fire: 37,020 acres burned, 105 homes and 213 other structures destroyed near the 15 Freeway in Cajon Pass; 100 percent contained (as of Tuesday); began Aug. 16.
- Clayton fire: 3,929 acres burned and 300 structures destroyed near Clear Lake; 96 percent contained (as of Tuesday); began Aug. 13.
- Rey fire: 29,664 acres burned north of Santa Barbara in Los Padres National Forest; 30 percent contained (as of Tuesday); began Aug. 18.
- Soberanes fire: 87,316 acres burned, one person killed and 68 structures destroyed in Monterey County; 60 percent contained (as of Tuesday); began July 22.
- Cedar fire: 17,986 acres burned in Kern County; 10 percent contained (as of Sunday morning); began Aug. 16.

Firefighters battle a wildfire

Firefighters battle a wildfire as it crosses Cajon Boulevard in Keenbrook, Calif., on Wednesday, Aug. 17. Firefighters had at least established a foothold of control of the blaze the day after it broke out for unknown reasons in the Cajon Pass near Interstate 15, the vital artery between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Five years of drought have turned the state's wildlands into a tinder box, with eight fires currently burning from Shasta County in the far north to Camp Pendleton just north of San Diego. (Photo: Noah Berger/AP Photo)

burned out residence stands amid rubble

A burned out residence stands amid rubble on Highway 138 after the Blue Cut Fire burned through Phelan, Calif., on Thursday, Aug. 18. (Photo: Noah Berger/AP Photo)

San Bernardino Fire Department firefighter works with a cadaver dog

In this photo provided by the San Bernardino County Fire Department, a San Bernardino Fire Department firefighter works with a cadaver dog searching the ruins for anyone who may have been overrun by the flames of a wildfire along State Route 138, in Phelan, Calif., Wednesday, Aug. 17 (Photo: Louis Penna/San Bernardino County Fire Department via AP Photo)

a burned van rests in a lot while a wildfire glows on the horizon

Seen in a long exposure nighttime photograph, a burned van rests in a lot while a wildfire glows on the horizon in Phelan, Calif., early Thursday, Aug. 18. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

property smolders on Highway 138

A property smolders on Highway 138 during day two of the Blue Cut fire in West Cajon Valley, Calif., Wednesday, Aug. 17. A wildfire with a ferocity never seen before by veteran California firefighters raced up and down canyon hillsides, instantly engulfing homes and forcing thousands of people to flee, some running for their lives just ahead of the flames. (Photo: Alex Gallardo/AP Photo)

fire threatens a house

In this Tuesday, Aug. 16, photo, fire threatens a house north of Devore, Calif. Officials in charge of the battle against California's newest huge wildfire estimate that only about half of the 4,500 residents of the threatened town of Wrightwood complied with evacuation orders. The fire climbed the flanks of the San Gabriel Mountains, where Wrightwood sits at an elevation around 5,900 feet. (Photo: Rick McClure/AP Photo)

Daniel Brown uses a chat app with his mother while surveying damage to his home after a fire

Daniel Brown uses a chat app with his mother while surveying damage to his home after a fire tore through his neighborhood in Lower Lake, Calif., Tuesday, Aug. 16 People forced to flee a massive wildfire in mountains north of San Francisco heaped anger Tuesday on a man who authorities believe set the blaze that wiped out several blocks of a small town over the weekend. (Photo: Josh Edelson/AP Photo)

James McCauley weeps as he views the burned out remains of his home

James McCauley weeps as he views the burned out remains of his home in Lower Lake, Calif., Monday, Aug. 15. McCauley traversed a creek by boat and foot for a half mile to see the property. (Photo: Josh Edelson/AP Photo)

burned home in Oak Hills, Calif.

Summit Inn General Manager Michelle Keeney, left, and Scott Keeney survey the destruction of their burned home in Oak Hills, Calif., on Friday, Aug. 19. The Summit Inn, a popular roadside diner at the crest of historical Route 66, was gutted by the Blue Cut wildfire on Tuesday, in the Cajon Pass which was right next door to their home. (Photo: Christopher Weber/AP Photo)

smoke billowing from a wildfire near Lake Nacimiento

This photo, provided by California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, shows smoke billowing from a wildfire near Lake Nacimiento in San Luis Obispo County, Calif., Saturday, Aug. 20. (Via AP Photo)

Scorched cars and trailers burned by the Blue Cut fire

Scorched cars and trailers burned by the Blue Cut fire line a residential street in Phelan, Calif., on Friday, Aug. 19. (Photo: Noah Berger/AP Photo)

An exterior wall stands in front of a residence scorched by a wildfire

An exterior wall stands in front of a residence scorched by a wildfire in Phelan, Calif., Friday, Aug. 19. Thousands of residents chased from their mountain and desert homes were slowly beginning to take stock of their losses as the preliminary damage assessment was released for the blaze that erupted Tuesday in drought-parched canyons 60 miles east of Los Angeles. (Photo: Noah Berger/AP Photo)

melted McDonald's sign

Following a wildfire, a melted McDonald's sign stands outside a restaurant in Cajon Junction, Calif., on Thursday, Aug. 18. Scenes of destruction were everywhere Thursday after a huge wildfire sped through mountains and high desert 60 miles east of Los Angeles so swiftly that it took seasoned firefighters off guard. (Photo: Noah Berger/AP Photo)

rally calling for shorter hours and higher wages to retain firefighters

Nick Reeder, a firefighter for the California Forestry and Fire Protection, and his mother, Jeanine, left, joined other firefighters at a rally calling for shorter hours and higher wages to retain firefighters, at the Capitol, Monday, Aug. 22, in Sacramento, Calif. Statistics provided to The Associated Press show vacancy rates exceeding 15 percent in some CaliFire positions. (Photo: Rich Pedroncelli/AP Photo)

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