AP [19659009] The California Department of Forest and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, said that despite the efforts of more than 2,000 firefighters, the containment of the fire has dropped from 10 to 6 % Thursday.
The agency confirmed last Thursday that a private bulldozer operator working on the fire was killed. He gave no other details. He added that 15 structures had been destroyed and five others had been damaged.
At West Redding, where the population is about 5,000 inhabitants, "a significant amount of structures burned " including residences, Cal Fire Deputy Chief Scott McLean said to NBC News, adding that there may not be any accurate badessment of the damage for days.
"West Redding is largely in flames."
Pacific Gas and Electric says that 1,830 customers were without electricity in Redding on Thursday night.
McLean said the fire was "destroying everything in its path". He told NBC Bay Area that an unknown number of firefighters and civilians were being treated for burns.
Mercy Medical Center told KNVN, an affiliate of NBC, that he was on alert and that he was treating several burn victims in his ward. The hospital said it was preparing to move babies and intensive care patients Thursday night
. Evacuations were ordered for several parts of Redding. An evacuation center of a local high school was forced to close and move to Shasta College.
"The fire is real, close to some residences here, so we do house-to-house evacuation," Sgt. Tim Hinkson, of the Highway Patrol Redding unit of the state, said in a Facebook post
"The fire resumes with these strong winds, and the unpredictability of how the wind is going to blow is just crazy, "said Hinkson. . "It's out of control."
Topography, intense heat, years of accumulated rain / snow and 70 mph winds contributed to the conditions and made this fire extremely dangerous and erratic.
From 6,700 acres to 20,000 acres Thursday at 4:00 am, it continues to burn in several directions and burns on itself
In Riverside County, the Cranston fire reaches 7,500 acres after An arsonist burnt him down. Fire around noon Wednesday in the San Jacinto Mountains in the San Bernardino National Forest, east of Los Angeles, said Cal Fire. About 3,200 residents have been evacuated from more than 2,100 homes, and about 600 others are in immediate danger in extremely hot and dry conditions, according to authorities.
The fire created a huge smoke cloud that he created his own weather system Brandon N. McGlover, 32, of Temecula, south of Los Angeles, was detained Thursday at the center of detention Mr Byrd de Murrieta, suspected of five counts. from wildfire to wildland in connection with the Cranston fire and an indeterminate number of other fires, the National Park Service said. The prison records do not mention any lawyers who could comment on behalf of McGlover.
A federal, local and federal incident command team said the fire was only 5% Thursday night. At least two highways and many campgrounds and trails were closed as nearly 700 firefighters attacked the fire,
A firefighter borrows hot spots along Highway 243 near Idyllwild, California. Marcio Jose Sanchez / AP
"We were all peeling ourselves as fast as we could, it was apocalyptic," says William Blodgett of Idyllwild, a city of the same name. about 12,000 people under the most immediate threat. NBC Los Angeles
The local air quality management district issued a smoke advisory until Friday morning, warning of the existence of unhealthy smoke levels and ashes.
There are already 200 more fires in California so far in 2018 than the same period last year. A total of 130,000 acres burned vs. 240,000 acres.