Tens of thousands of people on Thursday fled a fast-moving wildfire, some clutching babies and pets as they abandoned vehicles to escape fast-moving flames on foot in an area several hours north of San Francisco.
“It’s a very dangerous and very serious situation,” Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea told reporters. “I’m driving through fire as we speak. We’re doing everything we can to get people out of the affected areas.”
The blaze destroyed an unknown number of structures and injured some people, but the extent of their injuries was not immediately known, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Captain John Gaddie said.
Photo: Reuters
Flames were engulfing homes, utility poles were crashing down and things were exploding, said Gina Oviedo, who described a devastating scene as she evacuated the town of Paradise.
Honea confirmed reports that evacuees had to abandon their vehicles as they fled the scene.
“We’re getting them on other vehicles with room. We’re working very hard to get people out,” he said. “The message I want to get out is if you can evacuate, you need to evacuate.”
All of Paradise, a town of about 27,000 people 290km northeast of San Francisco, was ordered to evacuate, Butte County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Miranda Bowersox said.
The wildfire was reported at 6:30am, fire services spokesman Rick Carhart said.
Within about six hours, the fire had grown to more than 69km2, Gaddie said.
“The blaze is being driven by fairly strong winds,” Carhart said. “It’s really dry and we have low humidity — and unfortunately those are great conditions for a fire to spread.”
A hospital and several schools were evacuated as thick, gray smoke and ash filled the sky above Paradise and could be seen from miles away.
The Adventist Health Feather River Hospital in Paradise evacuated staff and 41 patients to other hospitals, given its proximity to the fire, Adventist Health spokeswoman Jill Kinney said.
She said a group of 20 other patients were initially evacuated, but then returned to the facility because of gridlocked traffic.
Gaddie said authorities were “working on a plan” to rescue the patients.
Some of the hospital’s “outbuildings,” such as out-patient clinics, caught fire and were damaged, but the main hospital was not, Kinney said.
Four hospital employees were briefly trapped in a basement and rescued by California Highway Patrol officers, Kinney said.
Shari Bernacett said her husband tried to get people to leave the mobile-home park they manage in Paradise and had minutes to evacuate.
She and her husband “knocked on doors, yelled and screamed” to alert as many of the residents of 53 mobile homes and recreational vehicles as possible, Bernacett said.
“My husband tried his best to get everybody out. The whole hill’s on fire. God help us!” Bernacett said before breaking down crying.
She and her husband grabbed their dog, jumped in their pickup truck and drove through flames before getting to safety, she said.
Officials were sending as many crews as they could gather, Carhart said.
“Every engine that we could put on the fire is on the fire right now, and more are coming,” he said. “There are dozens of strike teams that we’re bringing in from all parts of the state.”
The US National Weather Service issued red-flag warnings for fire dangers in many areas of the state, saying low humidity and strong winds were expected to continue through yesterday.
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