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A fire that raged in Shasta County destroyed 22,000 acres on Thursday night, said the US Forest Service.
The fire, called the Delta Fire, burns in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest without restraint.
It ignited around 1 pm Wednesday about 2 miles north of Lakehead. Originally, the fire would have been 500 acres and in the afternoon, the fire reached 2,000 acres.
Evacuations are in place in three counties, with 1,224 firefighting personnel. Homes and cottages scattered in and around the Shasta-Trinity National Forest are under evacuation orders, from the Lakehead community in the north up to the Siskiyou County boundary, said L & # 39; s. ; USFS.
"As we get closer to Redding, it's hot, it's dry," said Delta Fire Public Information Officer Brandon Vaccaro. "We do not see good moisture recoveries at night. So, again, the fire will not only burn healthy during the day, but also healthy at night.
The fire burns wood and brush.
"The biggest concern (Thursday) will be the extreme fire behavior that predicted," said Vaccaro. "Probably 300-foot flames coming out of the trees, 100-foot flames coming out of the brush."
About 45 miles of Interstate 5 are closed in both directions, the USFS said.
I-5 is closed 10 miles north of Redding on Fawndale Road and 3.6 miles south of Mount Shasta on Mott Road.
The officials will re-evaluate the conditions on Friday morning and then decide when to reopen the highway.
About 17 large rigs were abandoned along the highway and at least four caught fire, Lt. Cmdr. Kyle Foster of the Mount Shasta office of the California Highway Patrol told the Los Angeles Times. At least two trucks were partially melted.
US Forest Service officers helped keep the driver of a flamboyant truck safe. Truck drivers, firefighters and others have helped more drivers.
"There are vehicles everywhere," Vaccaro told Redding Record Searchlight. "Everything that happened here was probably pretty ugly for a moment."
Vaccaro said the changing weather conditions are a concern for the crews.
"We are looking at northern winds that could change the direction of the fire in the next few days," he said. "In addition, we are looking at this humidity to change at least at night, the days will be dry, but in the evening we should be able to get better moisture, which will help firefighters gain ground at night."
The investigation looks for the causes of the fire.
The Delta fire caught fire just weeks after a devastating fire destroyed nearly 1,100 homes and killed eight people in the same area. This the fire, Carr's fire, was declared just last week.
EVACUATION
Many structures are under threat in Shasta County and the sheriff's office conducted mandatory evacuations for residents along the Interstate 5 corridor from Exit 707 to North Vollmers until Exit 714 to Gibson.
The Trinity County Sheriff's Office issued a mandatory evacuation order for residents of East Fork Road to Ramshorn Road, east of the Shasta-Trinity County line. There will be a difficult road closure at East Side and East Fork Road for non-residents.
the Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office issued an evacuation warning for all residents of Dunsmuir. Call the 24-hour Distribution Center at (530) 841-2900 or Dunsmuir Substation at (530) 235-2320 or 235-2232 if you have any questions.
An evacuation center will be open at Mt. Shasta Community Center, located at 629 Alder Street, Mt. Shasta.
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Associated Press contributed to this story.
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