Abandoned trucks strew California road as wildfires rage

A fire rages as motorists travel on Interstate 5 near Shasta Lake, California on Wednesday, September 5, 2018. (Jerri Tubbs via AP)

REDDING, California – An explosive fire caused the closure of tens of kilometers of a major highway in California, just weeks after the fire that ravaged neighborhoods and killed eight people.

The Delta fire broke out Wednesday afternoon and in a few hours it devoured nearly 21 square kilometers of woodland and scrub on both sides of Interstate 5 near the state line of the United States. ;Oregon.

Fire officials said the fire had been caused by the man, but they did not indicate whether it was arson or arson. Accident.

Truckers abandoned their vehicles as flames rumbled in the hills. In a video, a passenger in a vehicle shouts, "Oh my God, I want to go!" as the trees ignited and the leaves of fire roasted on the side of the road.

About 17 large rigs were abandoned 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.

US Forest Service officers helped the driver of a flaming truck get on the road and other truckers, firefighters and others helped other drivers, he added.

"Vehicles are scattered everywhere," said Brandon Vaccaro, of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, at Redding Record Searchlight. "Everything that happened here was probably pretty ugly for a moment."

About 45 miles (72 kilometers) from I-5 were closed in both directions, said Chris Losi, a spokesman for the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. The road remained closed until Wednesday evening and there was no immediate response to the reopening of the tracks.

The fire also delayed Coast Starlight service from Amtrak between Sacramento and Oregon.

Rural houses and cottages scattered in and around the forest were under evacuation orders from the Lakehead community in the north to the Siskiyou County border, Losi said.

"It's not a lot of people," he said.

The fire showed "critical" behavior – burning fiercely and moving fast – but he was still far from the big cities, he added.

The town of Dunsmuir, with about 1,500 inhabitants, was about 24 kilometers from the traffic light. Residents received an evacuation warning, urging them to prepare to leave if the fire threatened.

A fire in nearby Redding burned 1,100 homes and killed eight people last month. Last week it was only partially contained.