Live updates: Carr Fire tops 80,000 acres, threatens rural homes near Redding as temperatures ramp up
The five-day-old fire's burned area jumped from 48,000 acres Friday evening to 85,000 acres by midday Saturday, a swath of 132 square miles, and authorities reported five dead and about a dozen missing.
"This fire is a disaster,"
"The fire still has very explosive behavior."
Shortly before that announcement,
U.S.
"This is far from put to bed," Ellsworth said of the blaze, adding that "right now this is pretty critical" to saving
Earlier Saturday, officials expressed some relief that the fire's path Friday night kept it clear of mainly populated areas.
"It was a fairly calm night,"
"But it's going to be hot and dry today, and we're expecting some winds, so we'll see."
Satellite imagery showed the fire continued to burn strongly from Friday night to Saturday morning, but was burning more on its western, northern and southern flanks away from
Tanya and
Tanya said the wall of fire in the distance was "like a mountain" itself. She could hear the popping of exploding propane tanks, one after the other.
Fire officials said the fire was burning Saturday morning in the secluded
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Firefighters spent the predawn hours there battling a line of flames. Several homes in that area were on fire Saturday morning.
"That's it," he said, heading to his truck. Fire crews were at the
The Carr Fire, which was started by a vehicle mechanical failure, reached the city of
Fire officials estimated that 500 structures were destroyed and 75 others were damaged. That puts it in the top 20 list of destructive fires in
Fire officials expected those numbers to increase in coming days, and said on Saturday morning that the fire remained only 5 percent contained.
Some residents learned their homes had been destroyed when they slipped back into neighborhoods past police lines.
Steiner and his wife, Jessie, a veterinarian, evacuated their
Then they came to
"I saw a reporter standing in my driveway," he said. "That was our confirmation that it was all gone.
"I guess the car being left behind made for a great visual."
Steiner sounded relaxed as he spoke.
"We managed to get out, so pretty much all the material possessions are gone but that's what insurance is for," he said.
So far, the official death toll is at five, with about a dozen people listed as missing.
Two died fighting the blaze:
Gov.
Also believed to have died are a 70-year-old woman and her two great-grandchildren.
According to relative
"They are overwhelmingly sure that there are decedents at the scene," the sheriff said. "And they have communicated that with family members. However, no bodies have been recovered.
"We are still working with fire personnel to cool the site down so we can have access with our staff. The house has been consumed. The roof collapsed and is covering the footprint of the home."
More than 3,400 fire crews battled throughout the day and into the night using C-130 tankers, helicopters, hoses and shovels in an effort to halt the fire's advances.
The work has been arduous and intense, with numerous small successes. Saturday morning, inmate fire crews using chainsaws and hand tools stopped a fire from jumping into a dense stand of brush and trees yards from two homes near the intersection of
Using hoe-like hand tools known as McLeods, they hacked a four-foot fire break down to bare dirt around the fire, and firefighters doused the flames with water from a fire truck. The fire quickly burned itself out, and nearby homes were untouched.
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Red circles on this live-updating map are actively burning areas, as detected by satellite. Orange circles have burned in the past 12 to 24 hours, and yellow circles have burned within the past 48 hours. Yellow areas represent the fire perimeter.
Source:
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