Editor's Note: The U.S. Fire Administration has confirmed the line-of-duty deaths of bulldozer operator Don R. Smith and Redding fire inspector Jeremy Stoke.
July 27 -- REDDING, CA -- The Carr Fire raging out of control in Shasta County has killed two firefighters, injured three more, destroyed 65 structures, scorched nearly 45,000 acres and is threatening thousands of homes in the city of Redding.
Early Friday morning, Redding police issued mandatory evacuation orders for neighborhoods in the western part of the city of 91,000 people. At 8:25 a.m., Cal Fire reported that 65 structures were destroyed, 55 were damaged and about 5,000 were still threatened by the blaze, which was sparked by the “mechanical failure of a vehicle.”
One day after a private bulldozer operator was killed, Cal Fire announced Friday that a Redding firefighter was killed while battling the fire. Cal Fire said authorities are working to notify the firefighter’s family.
The Marin County Fire Department announced that three of its firefighters suffered burn injuries Thursday night while battling the Carr Fire. The three firefighters were attempting to save a structure when they experienced a “sudden blast of heat” from burning vegetation, according to the fire department.
The three – Scott Pederson, 37; Tyler Barnes 34; and Brian Cardoza, 26, were treated for burns to the ears, face and hands at Redding’s Mercy Medical Center, according to the Sacramento Bee. One was later brought to the UC Davis Burn Center in Sacramento for further evaluation.
Cal Fire Battalion Chief John Cox said the fire was not advancing as of Friday at 8 a.m., but firefighters were wary of what the afternoon would bring, according to the Sacramento Bee.
Friday, the U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs announced its clinic in Redding remains open.
“Right now, we’re rounding up the troops and continuing to provide services,” said Don Black, site manager for the VA Redding Outpatient Clinic. “And we’ve worked to ensure the air quality inside the clinic is at a healthy level and suitable for a health care setting.”
The Bee reported 20,000 people fled the fire during the night, Redding residents were warned to be prepared for more evacuations.
The National Weather Service was predicting winds moving southeast of up to 25 miles per hour in the area this afternoon, the Bee reported. Temperatures in Redding on Friday are expected to reach 111 degrees.
“We’re definitely going to see a significant increase of acreage burned,” Cal Fire spokesman Scott McLean told the Bee. “We all saw what happened last night. We ask people to keep their head on a swivel.”
Friday at 6:33 a.m., Cal Fire announced the fire grew overnight from 29,000 acres to 44,450 acres, and the containment dropped from 6 to 3 percent.
At 1:45 a.m. Friday, Cal Fire issued a mandatory evacuation order for the Shasta Dam Visitor Center, all of Shasta Dam Boulevard and all of Shasta Lake City and Summit City. Evacuation centers were set up at Shasta College and Cross Point Community Church in Redding and Weaverville Elementary School in Weaverville.
At 12:15 a.m., several other neighborhoods were issued mandatory evacuation orders.
“We ask everyone to heed evacuation orders and leave promptly,” Cal Fire Incident Commander Brett Gouvea said in a video released late Thursday night on Twitter. “This fire is extremely dangerous and moving with no no regard for what’s in its path.”
Late Thursday, Cal Fire also announced a private bulldozer contractor was killed while “working on an active section of the fire.”
“The fire community is extremely heartbroken by this loss,” Gouvea said. “They are dedicated to investigating what what happened and will release more information as it becomes available.
“As we mourn the loss, we also battle a fire that is moving extremely quickly and erratically into western Redding.”
Cal Fire also announced there have been additional injuries to at least three firefighters and an unknown number civilians, but specific numbers were not available.
The 45-square-mile Carr Fire that began Monday tripled in size overnight Thursday amid scorching temperatures, low humidity and windy conditions.
Friday morning, Amtrak announced its service between Seattle Los Angeles has been “temporarily disrupted” between Sacramento and Klamath Falls, Oregon because of the Carr Fire. A northbound train was terminated in Sacramento and a southbound train ended in Klamath Falls with “no substitute transportation currently available.”
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management reported Friday it has temporarily closed the public lands west of Redding because of the Carr Fire. The closures affect lands north of Placer Road and west of Keswick, including the Keswick area, Iron Mountain Road, the Chappie-Shasta Off Highway Vehicle Recreation Area and the Swasey Recreation Area.
Cal Fire spokesman Scott McLean said Wednesday flames raced through the communities of Shasta and Keswick before jumping the Sacramento River and reaching Redding, a city of about 92,000 people — the largest in the region.
“The fire is moving pretty rapidly and taking everything down in its path,” McLean said.
Firefighters tried in vain to build containment around the blaze Thursday but flames kept jumping their lines, McLean said.
“It’s just a heck of a fight,” he said. “They’re doing what they can do and they get pushed out in a lot of cases. We’re fighting the fight right now.”
Earlier in the day with flames exploding around Whiskeytown Lake, an effort to save boats at a marina by untying them from moorings and pushing them to safety wasn’t swift enough to spare them all.
Dozens of charred, twisted and melted boats were among the losses at Oak Bottom Marina.
“The only buildings left standing … right now are the fire station and a couple of restrooms,” said Fire Chief Mike Hebrard of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
“The boat docks down there — all the way out in the water — 30 to 40 boats caught fire when the fire laid down on top of them last night and burned those up.”
In the historic Gold Rush-era town of Shasta, state parks employees worked through the early morning to rescue artifacts from a museum as the blaze advanced.
Wildfires throughout the state have burned through tinder-dry brush and forest, forced thousands to evacuate homes and forced campers to pack up their tents at the height of summer.
Gov. Jerry Brown declared states of emergency for the three largest fires, which will authorize the state to rally resources to local governments.
Staff writer Jason Green and wire services contributed to this report.
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