Throughout the week, dozens of fires in California have destroyed thousands of buildings and burned through more than 100,000 acres.

Officials say that 31 people have died since the fires started, with the death toll expected to rise as firefighters search areas affected by the blaze. Already, over 3,500 homes and businesses have been destroyed, with California's historic "wine country" north of San Francisco hit the hardest.

In nearby Santa Rosa, California, one tiny building that held a whole lot of history was sadly lost in the fires. It was the home of Charles Schulz, creator of the Peanuts comic strip and its iconic characters including Snoopy and Charlie Brown. At the height of his career, more than 2,600 newspapers featured Schulz's cartoons.

Schulz and his wife Jean had the home built in 1970, and lived there together until Schulz's death in 2000. His son Monte, who wasn't in Santa Rosa during the fire, revealed that Schulz's 78-year-old widow Jean was forced to evacuate in the middle of the night as flames crept up on the historic house.

And, sadly, he says that some irreplaceable artifacts of his father's life were still in the home when it burnt down...

While Schulz did most of his work in a separate office, Monte believes that there was lots of his father's memorabilia still in the house when it caught fire.

"Obviously stuff from my dad and their life together, all gone," he told the Mercury News, "the fire came by at, like, two in the morning. Everything's gone. All of their memorabilia and everything is all gone." Thankfully, many artifacts from Schulz in his career were moved to a nearby museum, which survived the fires.

Although, Monte guesses that his father's drawing table and some classic Peanuts cartoons were destroyed in the fire.

Also, for Schulz's widow and his children, many of their happy memories have gone up in smoke. "I had memories of being in that house. I never lived there but I visited all the time," Monte said. "That time of our lives is now completely erased."

There are still lots of reminders of Schulz's life throughout Santa Rosa, including the city's airport. It's named after the artist, uses Snoopy in its logo, and features a statue of the Peanuts characters outside the front entrance.

Share this story if you grew up reading Peanuts comics!

[H/T: Fox 10, The Mercury News]