The massive fire of Northern California becomes even bigger

Firefighters battling a huge forest fire in northern California prevented it from doing more damage to the city. of Redding, but three small communities were in danger when the flames closed and the inhabitants packed up to leave.

The fire increased by about 35 percent during the night to 328 square kilometers and pushed south-west of Redding. Ono, Igo and Gas Point. It's now the largest of more than 20 fires burning in California. The winds that helped firefighters keep the flames of more populated areas propelled it to a frightening pace.

"We are not taking a break with the weather" spokesman Cal Fire, the state agency responsible for the fight against forest fires. "It continues to be really hot, really dry and we continue to have these winds. … This fire becomes so big and there are so many different parts. "

The so-called Fire Carr was lit Monday by a vehicle and exploded Thursday night, jumped the Sacramento River and pushed into Redding, about 250 miles (402 kilometers) north of San Francisco and the largest city of the region with about 92,000 inhabitants, two firefighters were killed and the last count of 500 destroyed structures was sure to increase.Almost 37,000 people are under evacuation orders, 5,000 are threatened and 5 % are confined.

Meanwhile, about 200 kilometers southwest of Redding, two fires resulted in mandatory evacuations in Mendocino County.The two fires, which burn at 50 km one of the other, began Friday and threaten more than 350 buildings.The Mendocino County Sheriff's Office ordered the evacuation of the inhabitants of the Ukiah area, north of Highway 175. The inhabitants of the neighboring valley of Benmore Valley were [TruthPresidentDonaldTrumpissuedanemergencystatementforCaliforniaonSaturdayallowingcountiesaffectedbyforestfirestoreceivefederalaidInastatementtheWhiteHousesaidthedeclarationwillopenuptheavailabilityofequipmentandnecessaryresourcesfromtheFederalEmergencyManagementAgency

Huge fires continued to burn outside Yosemite National Park and in the San Jacinto Mountains. Palm Springs. Since Saturday morning, these fires have burned nearly 160,000 acres (64,700 hectares) and destroyed more than 500 structures. The Yosemite Valley remains closed to visitors and will not reopen until Friday.

Nationally, 89 large active fires consumed nearly 930,000 acres (376,000 hectares) in 14 states, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. This year, nearly 37,000 forest fires burned more than 4.25 million acres (1.7 million hectares).

The Carr Fire destroys almost everything in Keswick, a hamlet just west of Redding. One of the lost houses belonged to Shyla and Jason Campbell.

Jason, a firefighter, was six hours away from home and his family, fighting a forest fire near the Yosemite Valley, when Carr's fire arrived with devastating speed. "It's big flames, it goes up on the hill, and everyone is outside and we look at it, then it goes down, and everyone says, 'Oh that's coming out,'" says Shyla, 32. "And I'm like," No, it's coming down the mountain and it's going to go up the next ridge. "

She was right.

The family spent the night in a hotel. When Jason Campbell came back Friday, he found that their five-year-old house was gone, as well as an RV and a boat.

"It's hard," said Shyla Campbell on Friday while she was in the town of Shasta Lake. "I just have to know where we're going to stay, we're just trying to stay away from the fire."

Thousands of people escaped the in the middle of the embers, before walls of flames descend from the wooded hills until Thursday. At least two burning tornadoes have knocked down trees, shaken fire-fighting equipment and broken truck windows, "destroying everything in its path," said Scott McLean, a spokesman for Cal Fire

]. Bone dry temperatures and conditions have had to drop efforts to fight the fire at some point to help people escape. Two firefighters were killed: Redding fire inspector Jeremy Stoke and a bulldozer operator whose name was not immediately released. He was the second bulldozer operator to die in California in less than two weeks.

The hastily gathering people were describing a chaotic and cluttered escape as sparks flew and fire spread across the vast Sacramento River.

Redding Police Chief Roger Moore was among those who lost their homes.

Greg and Terri Hill evacuated their 18-year-old Redding home on Thursday night with a little more than their meds, photo albums, clothes and guns. back home in a few days.

When they returned on Friday, there was almost nothing left but fine particles of ashes. It was so hot that they could not cross it to see if anything had survived.

"It's quite moving," Terri Hill said. "I know it's just stuff, a lot of memories, but we're going to make new memories and get new things, everyone is safe."

The Hills fled before they were told, knowing that the danger was rising and that the helicopters suddenly started flying low

Liz Williams loaded two children in her car and found herself in a frantic traffic with neighbors trying to flee Lake Redding Estates

She finally jumped on the sidewalk and "reserved."

"I've never experienced anything so terrifying in my life, "she says," I did not know if the fire was going to just jump behind a bush and grab and suck me. "

Firefighters warned that the fire was likely to burn more deeply in urban areas before there is any hope of containing it. At present, Carr's fire has changed direction or has been stopped before it burns in downtown Redding.