Instead, the department turned to an opt-in program to contact an estimated 23,000 people who had signed up to receive emergency notifications or who had landline telephones. “In the past few years, just the way fires have moved, firefighters have had to help with evacuations before they can go back in to put out the fire,” Tolmachoff said.īutte County officials did not send an Amber Alert-style message to warn people in and around Paradise about the rapidly spreading fire early Thursday, a Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman said. The hospital largely survived, but an auxiliary building burned, according to Cal Fire. Fire officials said some people were trapped in a tunnel under the hospital and forced to shelter in place before escaping. The Paradise schools superintendent said she had seen photos of several schools burning.įeather River Hospital in Paradise was evacuated after flames jumped a road leading to the hospital. The Paradise Unified School District and Butte College closed their doors Thursday morning under evacuation orders from fire officials. Engines from the San Francisco and Santa Rosa fire departments and other California agencies were aiding Butte County firefighters. reported that 34,280 customers in Butte County and neighboring Plumas County had lost power.įirefighters spent the morning trying to evacuate trapped Paradise residents while creating firebreaks within the town and even moving some people to empty parking lots. Cal Fire officials said residents of Magalia, Butte Creek Canyon and Butte Valley had also been ordered to leave. The Butte County towns of Paradise, Pulga and Concow were evacuated shortly after the fire started. Jerry Brown traveled out of state, declared a state of emergency in Butte County. The blaze, named the Camp Fire because of its proximity to Camp Creek Road near Highway 70 in the Feather River Canyon, was scorching several areas within Paradise, which is home to many retirees. “I can’t think of an area that’s safe right now.” Al Smith of the Butte County Sheriff’s Office, noting that several deputies who ventured into evacuation zones to rescue residents also became trapped by flames burning around them. The inferno was so huge that dense smoke clogged skies throughout the Bay Area - roughly 200 miles southwest of the blaze - and residents across Northern California were warned to expect poor air quality through Friday.Įvacuation efforts were “difficult, to say the least,” said Lt. Authorities released no immediate information about the extent of the damage and the toll of injuries. The cause of the fire, which ignited at 6:30 a.m., was under investigation. They flooded Twitter too, posting names and photos of loved ones, along with the addresses where they’d last been seen. They inundated 911 with hundreds of requests for help tracking down people who were feared trapped behind fire lines. Streams of residents hurried out of town, inching along the few available routes.įamily members and friends searched for scores of missing people. As we drove out, homes were burnt to the ground.”Īmong the structures lost to the flames were a McDonald’s, a Mormon church, a Black Bear Diner and Paradise’s wood welcome sign. “I don’t know what we are coming back to after this. “We were engulfed in flames,” said Butte County Supervisor Doug Teeter. Several hundred homes, and perhaps more than 1,000, had burned. Friday.įire officials said they had received reports of some deaths from the blaze. Red-flag conditions were in place until at least 10 a.m. Similar winds were expected to continue through the night. High winds were hampering air tankers’ efforts to extinguish the flames, said Cal Fire spokesman Scott McLean.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |