McKinney fire on the California border with Oregon exploded in Saturday size up to 80 square miles and forced evacuation of more than 2000 people in Siskiyou County community of Ireka.
Officials said early Sunday morning that 51,468 acres fire – biggest so far in Wildfire season in California has not yet begun – managed to localize 0%. State Highway 96 was closed along the Klamath River and several others. smallrural communities remained evacuated. fire remained at 0% on Sunday evening, but did not new evacuation order,This was reported at the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office. just until 19:00 An updated square total was not provided.
fire, however, according to online map of in fire the perimeter of the Irek police department is divided on Sunday morning on Facebook.
“Small progression observed on in fires edge closest to the city of Ireka”, fire incident commanders wrote in their 8 am update. BUT fire-cartographic aircraft that flew over Sunday afternoon perimeter continued show minimum spread towards Yrek, the seat of the Siskiyou district as well as home up to 7807 people.
Larry Castle and his wife Nancy were among the 2,000 people. people in Ireka who said that they should leave their home Saturday evening. Officials walked around the neighborhood with red flags on mailboxes of each house what did they check ensure the invaders had left.
Larry Castle said he uploaded up trailer with a little of his valuables, including a motorcycle and rifles, and he, Nancy, and three dogs headed for Mount Shasta to spend night at their daughters house.
He expressed his hope that recent bush and tree thinning projects carried out by foresters on the top of the ridge above the Ireka would have saved the city, but he did not risk it.
“You seem back in Paradise fire and Santa Rosa fire and you understand that this is all very, very serious,” he said, referring to the forest fires. in 2017 and 2018 that burned thousands of homes and killed dozens of people.
Fire creates lightning and winds
Huge pillar of smoke fire was creating your own weatherincluding thunderstorms. Lightning strikes caused others small fires, including one west of Fort Jones, according to representatives of the Klamath National Forest.
” area remains in red flag warning today for the threat of dry lightning and strong outflow winds associated with with storm cells,” the officials wrote. in their briefing is at 8am. “These conditions can be extremely dangerous for firefighters, as the wind can be erratic and very strong, causing fire distribute in Any direction”.
fire the eruption occurred at 2:38 p.m. Friday on Highway 96 and McKinney Creek Road to the southwest. of the Klamath River and cause remains under investigation.
Officials did not provide an estimate of buildings destroyed maps show in fire burned out smallisolated communities, including an unincorporated city of Klamath River, home up to about 190 people20 miles west of Ireka.
fire burned down down at least a dozen houses and wild animals fled to avoid flame.
Photos from the Grants Pass Daily Courier showed homes and community center destroyed in The Klamath River, as well as the burned vehicles on Highway 96.
Officials said they spent the night hours preservation homes and buildings in Klamath River area from burning. Another small Evacuated communities include those in Seiyad Valley, Scott Bar and Horse Creek.
Stephanie Bossen of Klamath River and her dog Biggie, were in Weed on Sunday trying to find place stay. Because she remained Ireka when fire hiton not know if her home survived. She said she gets more and more nervous when the temperature climbed in the 100s over in past several days.
“I knew it would be bad because everything is dry heat and it’s been such a drought here lately,” she said. “It should have been bad somewhere. I just hoped it wasn’t so close to mine house”.
Tourists and pets evacuated
On Saturday afternoon, Irek police evacuated mobile home a park called Oakridge Mobile Estates “because of its proximity to fire and need for additional time for this is group of Residents can be safely evacuated,” the statement said. in Facebook post.
Authorities provided buses to residents who necessary transport out of in area as well as set up evacuation center at Weed Community Center, 161 E. Lincoln Ave. Twenty two people stayed at the shelter Saturday night, said Stephen Walsh, spokesman for in area branch off of American Red Cross, which operating website.
Saturday, Fairchild Medical Center, main hospital in Siskiyou County, Displaced Patients, out of “abundance of caution” to out-of-area hospitals even in Sacramento, a hospital spokesman said.
But the hospital located in part of Ireka is currently The evacuation warning remained open on Sunday.
Officials also started making lists of animals are lost or found because of in fire; updated information on animal shelter and how find lost animals in there are evacuation zones available on Siskiyou County website.
in past 48 hours Salvation Ranch – non-profit dog adoption and rehabilitation center in Ireka – saw more more than 130 animals fell, mostly dogs. off evacuees who cannot keep their pets in shelters or motels, Rescue Ranch spokeswoman Natalie Golay said Sunday.
“They still go in,” she said. One was a puppy who news photographer chose up from outside a home what burned down inside the evacuee area. Golay told the owner, who lost my home reunited with his dog Sunday afternoon. The puppy’s name is Patch. However, it’s not exactly a happy ending. She said the owner of Patch is scared for life of three other dogs he had to leave behind in furious evacuation.
group put out a call on Facebook is looking for stainless steel buckets, dog food and other donations to feed and care for the dogs for.
Meanwhile search and rescue teams from Oregon and California find tourists on Pacific Ridge Trail and escorting them to safety. Popular 4,650 km hiking trail runs from Mexico to Canada and meanders for 110 miles through the evacuees area.
Transported about 60 tourists. in public transit buses from california side of Saturday afternoon in the Red Butts Wilderness, according to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office. in Oregon.
McKinney Fire is the largest to date this year matches almost everything of area burned in California so far in 2022 before it caught fire.
Governor Gavin Newsom announced the state of special saturday in Siskiyou County.
Sacramento Bee photographer Sarah Nevis contributed to this. story.
This story was originally published July 31, 2022 at 7:56 am
Ryan Sabalou covers environmentcorporate and detective stories for McClatchy California Papers. Before joining Sacramento Bee in In 2015, he was a reporter for the Auburn Journal, Redding Record Searchlight and the Indianapolis Star.
