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A monster forest fire in northern California rose two-thirds overnight after killing two firefighters, destroying hundreds of buildings and sending thousands of frenzied residents running from their homes.
32,740 acres Carr Fire, which was just 5% contained early Saturday while it pbaded through Redding, a city of 90,000 people, in the scenic Shasta-Trinity region of California.
More than 38,000 residents in Redding and elsewhere in Shasta County They fled their homes as the fire began to pick up speed and intensity on Thursday, destroying 500 homes and businesses and leaving Keswick behind. a town of 450 people, in smoking ruins, said the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. threatened, Cal Fire said.
According to the National Interagency Fire Center, there are currently 89 large fires in 14 US states, mostly in the West. So far this year, forest fires have burned nearly 1.7 million hectares across the United States, above the average of 1.5 million hectares for the same period of the last decade.
About 1,100 people gathered in an evacuation center. On Saturday
one of them, 57-year-old David Franceschine, said that he had made a camping trip when the fire broke out. He rushed home to try to recover property, but by the time he arrived, the authorities had closed the road.
million. Franceschine said that he badumes that the fire destroyed all his belongings, including the urn containing the ashes of his son.
"That's what bothers me the most," he says.
The fire, which began Monday afternoon, was fueled by hot, dry weather and high winds. Temperatures are expected to reach 42.8 degrees on Saturday, according to the National Weather Service
"Winds, high temperatures and dry vegetation still have the potential to fuel fire growth," Cal Fire said in a statement. notice published in the morning. "The spread of fire has been active in all directions."
A bulldozer operator and a member of the Redding Fire Department were killed in the fire. The Mercy Medical Center hospital treated nine people for burns, including three firefighters, spokesman Mike Mangas said Saturday
Seventeen people were reported missing in Redding after the blizzard. The flames erupted Thursday after crossing the Sacramento River and fell on the west side of Redding, about 240 km north of Sacramento
Governor Jerry Brown called for urgent federal badistance to avert a "imminent disaster". "While Shasta County was trying to find water and food for residents evacuated from ranches and farms.
Other large-scale fires were raging about 177 km away. East of Los Angeles and near Yosemite National Park, fire – Reuters
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