Property in Lincoln Heights and Weed in the Siskiyou County of Nothern California were destroyed as a mill fire spread rapidly. News outlet KRCR posted a video of the destruction on social media, crediting the Montague Fire Department.
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Authorities in the area ordered at least 5,000 residents across three communities to leave their homes immediately as the blaze spread in hot and windy conditions to 500 acres in about an hour, the Siskiyou Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
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Photos posted on social media showed massive flames in the town of Weed, about 70 miles north of the city of Redding.
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The Mill Fire was first reported shortly before 1 PM local time. The Zonehaven website showed a large area of Siskiyou County east of I-5 under evacuation orders.
Incident command requested a large number of ground fire units and air support to battle the fire.
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“CAL FIRE and multiple local fire departments at scene of #MillFire 200+ acres with dangerous rate of spread. Hundred of home threatened. Multiple evacuation orders and warnings are in place. Follow Siskiyou County Sheriff Office for exact evacuations information,” CAL Fire tweeted.
Christopher Rock, an employee at the Mayten Store in Montague, a town 30 miles (48 kilometers) north of Weed, said evacuees from the fire had swarmed the pumps.
“It’s really busy right now,” he said. “You can’t see the flames from here, just a lot of smoke.”
Marco Noriega, brewmaster at Mount Shasta Brewing Company, said they received the notice to evacuate about an hour ago and he sent the 10 customers and three employees away. He said the power is out and they have received little information.
Smoke is to the north and winds are blowing from the south, keeping the fire away. He sounded calm as he cleaned up.
“I’ve been through it before, so long as the wind stays in the direction it is, I’m all right. But I know the wind switches quickly,” he said by phone.
The National Weather Service issued a red flag warning for Siskiyou County from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday. Winds were expected to reach up to 31 mph in the Weed area, the weather service said.
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In Southern California, firefighters were making progress Friday against two big wildfires despite dangerously hot weather.
Containment of the Route Fire along Interstate 5 north of Los Angeles increased to 37% and it remained at just over 8 square miles (21 square kilometers) in size, a California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection statement said.
Firefighters were focusing on mopping up hotspots and building more containment lines, trying to get most of the hard work done before the midday heat, Cal Fire said.
