More residents of Los Angeles and Ventura counties were returning to their homes in the Woolsey Fire burn area on Saturday, days after the blaze of 98,362 acres forced them to evacuate.An evening update from firefighters indicated the count of structures destroyed has climbed to 1,008 - up from a morning estimate of 836.Another 271 structures were damaged.Additional evacuations are also being lifted, including the Malibu Colony Cove neighborhood, from the ocean north to the Malibu city limit on the north, to Puerco Canyon Road on the east and Paradise Cove Road on the west. The blaze, which was 82 percent contained as of Saturday morning, has chewed through some 98,362 acres, or more than 153 square miles, according to Cal Fire, the state fire agency. Cal Fire said the 153-square-mile burn area was 84 percent surrounded.Los Angeles County sheriff's detectives were investigating three deaths connected to the fire. Two adults were found in a burned-out car last week, and the remains of a person were found Wednesday in the rubble of a home that had burned to the ground.At the Paramount Ranch, structures that served as barns, hotels, saloons and barbershops for decades of movies and TV shows are gone. Workers will salvage what they can and then work to rebuild.On Friday, Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area Superintendent David Szymanski announced a plan to rebuild and reopen the site within the next two years. "The site is almost a total loss," Szymanski said. "It's easy to be somber. But there's some things that I'm hoping will allow us to be a little bit less somber. We'd like to get Paramount Ranch rebuilt in the next 24 months. "As the ranch's manmade structures are rebuilt, the stark surrounding hills will most likely take care of themselves. "All this natural vegetation will regenerate itself," said Sara Horner, board president of the Santa Monica Mountains Fund. "A year from now, it will be green, from after the rains, and then in a few years, it'll look pretty much as it did. Nature is amazingly powerful in her ability to heal."
The number of structures destroyed in the Woolsey Fire rises to 1,452.