Mortal Klamathon Fire Forces Governor Brown to Declare State of Emergency

A forest fire that jumped on the Klamath River before throwing himself into the woods near the Oregon-California border caused the first death in the state on Friday morning. The Klamathon fire, which began near the small town of Hornbrook (Siskiyou County), forced evacuations, damaged or destroyed at least 12 structures, and Friday afternoon it had ravaged According to local authorities and the Department of California's forestry and fire protection, or Cal Fire, there were only 5,000 hectares of land and there were only 5,000 left.

North of California, adding to a series of fires from San Diego to Yreka (Siskiyou County) that have created an unusually early fire season and whose authorities are exhausted.

Now, that's more of what we'll normally see later, as in September, "said Captain Cal Fire, Amy Head." Cooler temperatures would obviously be helpful, but we do not have to. " let's not see him right away. "

The Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office confirmed that the firefighters had spotted the body of a resident among the charred ruins of a neighborhood of Hornbrook. Sheriff's Lieutenant Jeremiah LaRue, a spokesman for the office, said: "We do not even have an address because of the devastation in the area," he added. said: "There are things burned everywhere."

But from noon on Friday, the forces of order were no longer expecting deaths

#Klamathon burning on both sides of I-5 south of Hilt No ETA activated when I-5 reopens I-5 closed SB at #Ashland NB at #Yreka . pic.twitter.com/xSb1gG6vNc

– Oregon DOT (@OregonDOT) 6 July 2018

"We are rather optimistic that everyone is out," said LaRue. On Thursday afternoon, the Klamathon Fire jumped Interstate 5 just south of the Oregon border, closing the tracks heading south for almost a day.

Embed 783431Z-1530900099775 OregonDOT

Govt. Jerry Brown declared the state of emergency on Thursday in Siskiyou County, noting that the residents were in "extreme danger".

The sheriff's department sent an evacuation alert to residents of Hornbrook and Hilt at 1:19 pm. On Thursday, said LaRue, who estimated that about 400 people had fled their homes.

"The flames are hot and they are jumping back and forth on the highway," he said. "It has moved very rapidly to the northwest and extends to the east and west of the highway."

The authorities have not yet officially identified what triggered the fire, but they have a good idea of ​​the origin. The Highway Patrol breakdown records show that at approximately 12:30 pm Thursday, a resident of a property southeast of the Klamath River, near the Klamathon and Ager roads, called dispatchers to say he had "unleashed" a small fire on a friend's property and that this one was "out of control"

indicates that the fire lit a tree, jumped the river in the beginning after and quickly grew up taking off in the grassy hills dotted with trees.

Brianna Derra, 20, resident of Montague, a nearby town of Yreka. at twilight, Thursday, when she fell on "a red glow over the hill".

"You stand there knowing that people's homes are burning, people's livestock," she said. "I went to high school with a lot of people from this region.Everyone knows everyone."

This is the second big fire of recent years that has torn the rural spread California cities near the border of Oregon. In 2014, the Boles fire devastated the town of Weed, about 40 minutes south of Hornbrook on Interstate 5. It destroyed more than 150 homes. Said Derra, "At the same time, there are many people coming together to help the victims and the evacuees, as there was after the shooting of Boles."

evacuation was still in effect Friday for Klamathon Road, from Interstate D after Cal Fire, [traduction]

Nancy Hood, 36, resident of Yreka – a city of 7600 inhabitants just 19 years old, miles south of Hornbrook – said she was concerned about her friends and neighbors.

"My friend is on the line right now just trying to save his home," said Hood. "They are trying to get a lot of animals out of the farmers. Even stray animals, they say, pick them up and bring them back.

#Klamathon Fire There are 500 acres and over and zero percent. Multiple structures are threatened. An evacuation order is currently in effect for Klamathon Road from Interstate 5 in Ager and all of Hornbrook. Evacuation orders now include areas of the Hilt / Colestein Valley. pic.twitter.com/v2AEoygGKv

– Nancy Hood (@sassybellsqueak) July 6, 2018

Meanwhile, massive fire in Yolo and Napa counties continued to challenge firefighters from all over the state as they struggled to contain the northernmost part of the fire, which entered Friday in its seventh day and burned nine structures.

The county grew more than 300 acres on Friday morning, gobbling up 88,375 acres in total. According to the authorities, the steep and inaccessible terrain has prevented firefighters from establishing a containment line at the north end of the fire.

The fire was controlled to 37% at the beginning of the afternoon. Guinda, along Highway 16 north of Berryessa Lake in Yolo County.

#CountyFire [update] east of Berryessa Lake (Yolo and Napa Counties) is now 88,375 acres and contains 37%. Evacuations in force https://t.co/z2FpwZ89SK pic.twitter.com/cNIsZmOHsk

– FIRE CAL (@CAL_FIRE) July 6, 2018

Mandatory evacuations were in place for the communities Yolo and Lake

In addition to the nine structures destroyed, Cal Fire also reports that 110 structures remained under threat Friday. Although weather conditions have helped the firefighters, higher temperatures, lower humidity and erratic winds expected over the weekend could continue to pose problems, authorities said.

#PawneeFire [update] ] of Pawnee Road and New Long Valley Road, northeast of Clearlake Oaks (Lake County), remains confined to 15,000 acres and confined to 92%. https://t.co/LoCjg6kBA8 pic.twitter.com/6ysOjFi2iT

– CAL FIRE (@CAL_FIRE) July 6, 2018

Meanwhile, in Lake County, the fire Pawnee's was 92 percent contained and had burned 15,000 acres. At least 22 buildings were destroyed and six damaged on Friday, but firefighters said no other structure was threatened.

A firefighter was injured in the fire, officials said.

In Alpine (San Diego County) Fire devastated the area near Cleveland National Forest on Friday to burn more than 350 acres. Other fires in the state to reach the three-digit Friday in the burnt land included fire from the box just north of San Bernardino and the Irish fire in Amador County near Sacramento, who had at least 100 acres on fire.

could be a very long season, "said Captain Head of Cal Fire. "But then, we do not really see the seasons anymore, is not it?"

San Francisco Chronicle writer Lauren Hernandez contributed to this report.

Erin Stone and Kevin Fagan are editors of the San Francisco Chronicle E-mail: [email protected], [email protected] Twitter: @ erstone7 @KevinChron