“This fire is a disaster”

“The devastating Carr Fire continued to spread Saturday into rural areas of Shasta County, but authorities were beginning to express more confidence that they had halted the advance of the flames into the city of Redding and could turn their focus to battling the flames west of the city and deal with an outbreak of looting reports,” as the Sacramento Bee is reporting.

“The five-day-old fire’s burned area jumped from 48,000 acres Friday evening to 83,800 acres by Saturday night, a swath of 130 square miles, and was only at 5 percent containment. Authorities reported five dead and several still missing. The fire had destroyed 536 structures, damaged another 117 and was threatening nearly 5,000.

“Officials emphasized that the danger is not over and asked for patience from the 38,000 people who have been forced from their homes since Thursday evening.

“’This fire is a disaster,’ Sacramento firefighter Chris Harvey told a crowd of residents Saturday as ash rained down on them. ‘It’s a very large event with very high speed and very high temperatures that are going to last a couple of days.’

“’The fire still has very explosive behavior.’”

The rest of the article is here.

Author: jeffpelline

Jeff Pelline is a veteran editor and award-winning journalist - in print and online. He is publisher of Sierra FoodWineArt magazine and its website SierraCulture.com. Jeff covered business and technology for The San Francisco Chronicle for 12 years, and he was a founding editor and Editor of CNET News for eight years, among other positions. Jeff has a bachelor's degree from UC Berkeley and a master's from Northwestern University. His hobbies include sailing, swimming, and trout fishing in the Sierra. View all posts by jeffpelline