A pair of wildfires burned relentlessly in Siskiyou County early Saturday, one destroying much of a historically black neighborhood in the town of Weed and the other chewing through a heavy forest to the west.
The mill fire, which prompted the evacuation of Weed and smaller communities to the north, had grown to 3,921 acres with 20 percent containment, Cal Fire spokesman Robert Foxworthy said.
Weed Mayor Kim Greene said Saturday morning that most of the damage she is aware of was in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood and Lake Shastina, with reports of 100 homes destroyed in Lincoln Heights.
“They seem to have been the hardest hit,” Green said. “From the map I saw last night, it looks like most of the houses in Lincoln Heights are gone. We’re just trying to assess that right now.”
Cal Fire Siskiyou Unit Chief Phil Anzo gave the Associated Press the same estimate, adding that crews worked around the clock to protect structures in Weed and Carrick, a subdivision in the East.
“There’s a lot at stake in this mill fire,” he said. “There are a lot of communities, a lot of houses there.”
Two people were taken to Mercy Medical Center Mount Shasta, according to the AP. One was listed in stable condition and the other was taken to the burn unit at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento.
Cal Fire firefighters try to prevent flames from the Mill Fire from spreading to a property in the Lake Shastina subdivision northwest of Weed, Calif., Friday, Sept. 2, 2022. Hung T. Vu Special to The Record Searchlight via AP
Mountain fire in rugged terrain
Meanwhile, the Mountain Fire had grown to 3,395 acres in a wooded and mountainous area west of Yreka by early Saturday, according to Cal Fire.
In the town of Gazelle, Colleen Brown and her husband, Steve, spent a long Friday night. He said they saw “bulldozer after bulldozer” being dragged behind big rigs up the hill toward the Mountain Fire, burning in the hills west of town. They could see trees on fire on the hillside.
“You can see the orange glow,” he said. “We were really nervous last night.”
The fire has been contained by 5%, according to the teams.
As a giant plume builds up in the west Saturday morning, he said they’ll be ready to go at a moment’s notice if the wind starts blowing the fire toward Gazelle.
In the sparsely populated hills west of Gazelle, dozens of excavators, fire trucks and other heavy equipment were parked on private property preparing for the pending afternoon fire as planes and helicopters flew overhead already attacking the fire from sky
The few homes along Gazelle-Callahan Road west of Gazelle appeared to have survived the fire. Further west along the curved road, the fire had burned through pines, cedars and spruces on both sides of the road on Friday.
Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency Friday night for Siskiyou County, which was just beginning to recover from last month’s McKinney wildfire that killed four people in the community of Klamath River, and announced that the state had secured a FEMA grant to help. pay for firefighting duties.
The Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office reduced some evacuation zones, but mandatory orders remained in place in areas SIS-2218, SIS-5102, SIS-2334 and SIS-2337 for the mill fire and the SIS-5203 area for the mountain fire.
Shastina Lake remains evacuated after “a very sad day for our community,” according to the Shastina Lake Fire Department.
“The mill fire burned well into the Shastina Lake Housing District with numerous structures lost,” Fire Chief Steven Pappas said in an update. “At this moment we do not have an exact number of homes that have been lost nor can I provide you with the specific streets that have been affected. The fire has entered the district from the southern end and has moved north.
“It still poses a significant risk to homes that remain standing throughout the Shastina Lake community, and there is still an active fire burning deep in our community.”
Firefighters estimated that repopulating the area of about 2,400 inhabitants could take several days.
With much of California reeling from an epic heat wave, the dueling flames represented the latest chapter in what has become a wildfire season in far northern California. Along with the McKinney, a total of eight major wildfires have burned in the area this year. The Six Rivers lightning complex, about 70 miles to the southwest in the hardwoods of Trinity and Humboldt counties, was still burning after nearly a month.
Mark Ghilarducci, director of the state Office of Emergency Services, said fire crews were being deployed to 18 counties in preparation for other fires that could ignite during the mammoth heat wave.
“Fires can start very easily,” he said Saturday. The state anticipates “a series of new fires.”
Cal Fire Deputy Chief Chris Anthony added, “We just started the Labor Day weekend. The hottest, driest days are still ahead of us.”
The mill fire started quickly, moved to the northwest
The mill fire, reported Friday afternoon, is believed to have started near the lumber yard of Roseburg Forest Products, one of Weed’s largest employers, Mayor Kim Greene said Friday. The mill was heavily damaged in the Boles fire of 2014, and by early Saturday one of its buildings was little more than a pile of smoldering rubble.
A Roseburg spokeswoman confirmed Friday that some of the company’s property had burned, but said company officials did not know how or where the fire started.
Greene said he learned the shed where the fire is believed to have started was part of an old section of the mill that was slated for demolition.
Cal Fire’s Anthony said, “I can’t confirm the location of the start or the cause of the start.”
A plume of smoke covers the sky as the mill fire in Weed, California approaches. Friday, September 2, 2022. Hung T. Vu The Record Searchlight
Map of the mill fire
This live updated map shows the location of the Mill Fire, right, and the Mountain Fire, with satellite heat detection data for hot spots. Click the legend button for more information. iFrames are not supported on this page. Sources: US Department of the Interior, IRWIN, NIFC, NASA, NOAA, and Esri
Fanned by south-to-north winds, the Mill Fire quickly moved beyond Weed and into the Shastina Lake community, but not before destroying much of the Lincoln Heights area of Weed, a small, upscale district worker who had served as Black’s heart. community during Weed’s glory days as a lumber town.
When a Sacramento Bee reporter visited the neighborhood early Saturday, much of it was in ashes as smoke hung in the air. Pickups and other vehicles were left charred, while some houses only had their chimneys standing.
As the fire moved north, nearby communities such as Carrick and Lake Shastina were ordered to evacuate. Carrick appeared to have mostly weathered the fire, but a Bee reporter witnessed at least five homes destroyed in a Lake Shastina housing subdivision early Saturday. There did not appear to be an active fire, but firefighters were sheltering cars that were doused in pink fire retardant dropped from the plane. The whole area was covered in a haze of smoke.
Highway 97, one of the main roads in the region, was closed for miles.
“It just never seems to stop,” said Weed resident Scott Payne, 59, recalling the fires that have ravaged the region in years past.
Cal Fire firefighters try to prevent flames from the Mill Fire from spreading to a property in the Lake Shastina subdivision northwest of Weed, Calif., Friday, Sept. 2, 2022. Hung T. Vu Special to The Record Searchlight via AP
The sudden burst of fire and smoke in Weed Friday shocked many residents, including Greene. “What I can see right now is just a lot of black smoke,” the Weed mayor said as she packed belongings into her car.
Greene was at the town’s community center when he heard about the fire, and a short time later he saw tanker planes flying overhead, preparing to drop water.
Shelly Burgess, who lives in the Angel Valley area, not far from the Roseburg mill, said, “We looked out the window and saw a plume of smoke.”
He had gathered his grandchildren and other relatives and “we piled everyone into the car. … The strong winds – you have…