The Carr Fire is tearing through Northern California.
The explosive blaze first ignited on Monday and reached the city of Redding on Thursday night, the Associated Press reports. The fire on Tuesday engulfed over 100,000 acres, and is only 23% contained, according to Cal Fire, the state’s fire agency.
So far, the Carr Fire has killed one bulldozer operator who was contracted to help snuff the blaze and has caused burn injuries to both civilians and firefighters. Another firefighter died on Friday morning, bringing the total death toll to six by Monday.
Seven civilians were missing as of Monday morning, CNN reports.
By Tuesday morning, the fire had destroyed over 874 structures and is threatening more than 5,000 in Redding and surrounding areas. Around 39,000 people evacuated in advance of the flames, ABC7 News, a local ABC affiliate, reports.
The region is forecasted to experience strong winds, triple-digit high temperatures, and no precipitation in the coming days, and officials expect the fire to continue growing.
This new fire comes on the heels of an especially devastating wildfire season in California last year. A series of fires scorched Northern California last October. The Thomas Fire in Southern California became the largest blaze since 2000, after burning through over 230,000 acres.
Wildfires are also tearing through the area surrounding Yosemite National Park. The Ferguson Fire has ravaged the area for weeks as firefighters work to control the blaze. Take a look at the Carr Fire’s path:
The Carr Fire broke out on Monday near Shasta, a small community in Northern California.
By Thursday night, the blaze had reached the outskirts of Redding, a city of 92,000 people.
People in Redding were unprepared for the blaze, The Associated Press reports, with traffic backed up by residents trying to flee the city.
Source: Associated Press
The Carr Fire is “taking down everything in its path,” Scott McLean, a Cal Fire spokesman told The Associated Press. “It’s just a wall of flames. It’s nonstop.”
Firefighters are doing everything they can to halt the blaze.
3,338 firefighters have been dispatched to the scene, according to Cal Fire, including 334 fire trucks, 17 helicopters, 68 dozers, 65 water trucks, and 59 fire crews.
Source: Cal Fire
“It is an Armageddon-like feel up here,” Redding resident Connor Sutton told The Sacramento Bee. “Heavy smoke. Gas stations are jam packed. It is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.”
Source: The Sacramento Bee
“It’s just chaotic. It’s wild,” McLean said. “There’s a lot of fire, a lot of structures burning.”
The fire already has claimed 874 structures as of Monday morning, and is threatening thousands more around Redding.
Source: Cal Fire, Associated Press
In an interview with The New York Times, McLean compared it to the Tubbs Fire that burned through Napa and Sonoma county last year.
Source: The New York Times
“This fire is just extremely dynamic,” McLean told The Times. “We really haven’t seen anything like this except for last year on the Tubbs.”
Source: The New York Times
“I’ve never experienced something so terrifying in my life,” Redding resident Liz Williams told The Associated Press. “I didn’t know if the fire was just going to jump out behind a bush and grab me and suck me in.”
Source: The Associated Press
The blaze created two “fire vortexes” which toppled trees and took down everything in their path, Cal Fire said.
Source: Business Insider
Officials expect the fire to burn deeper into urban areas before it can be contained, as the area will be buffeted by high winds and there will be no precipitation in the coming days.
Source: CNN
Fire crews are focused on evacuations and rescuing rather than combatting the out-of-control blaze.
“We’re trying to move people out of the path of it because it is now deadly, and it is now moving at speeds and in ways we have not seen before in this area,” Jonathan Cox, a fire battalion chief at Cal Fire told The Associated Press.
Source: The Associated Press
The post An explosive wildfire is moving through a California city, and it’s showing no signs of stopping — see photos from the scene appeared first on Business Insider.