Evacuation order expands in California

REDDING, CALIF. • The number of people ordered to flee from two Northern California wildfires has swelled to 15,000, authorities said Monday as flames rolled toward several small towns in a rural area of lakes, forests and mountains.

Elsewhere in the same region, firefighters were hopeful that the state’s largest and deadliest blaze of the year was slowing down after days of explosive growth.

The twin fires in Mendocino and Lake counties flared up late Sunday, forcing the new evacuations from the 4,700-resident town of Lakeport and other communities near Clear Lake, about 195 kilometres north of San Francisco. The blazes have destroyed six homes and threaten 10,000 others. So far, the flames have blackened 225 square kilometres, with minimal containment.

Those fires were among 17 burning across the state, where fire crews were stretched to the limit.

Lake County Sheriff ’s Lt. Corey Paulich said residents have been heeding evacuation orders because they have seen the destruction caused by past wildfires, which have destroyed thousands of homes and killed at least four people since 2015.

To the north, near Redding, Calif., where an unpredictable blaze killed six people, a man whose wife and two great-grandchildren were among the dead said he did not receive any warning to evacuate.

Ed Bledsoe told CBS News he did not know his home was in danger when he left his wife, Melody, and the four- and five-year-old children to run an errand on Thursday.

“If I’d have had any kind of warning, I’d have never, ever left my family in that house,” Bledsoe said.

Bledsoe said he received a phone call from his wife 15 minutes after he left saying he needed to get home because the fire was approaching. He said one of the children told him the blaze was at the back door. When he tried to return, the road was blocked and flames prevented him from returning on foot.

Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko told the network there’s an investigation into whether the Bledsoe home received a warning call or a knock on the door. The sheriff said there is evidence that door-to-door notifications were made in the area.

Crews handling the blaze near Redding struck a hopeful tone for the first time in days as the massive fire slowed after days of rapid expansion. As of Monday, the Redding fire had destroyed 723 homes.

Redding police Chief Roger Moore kept up a round-the-clock work schedule despite learning that his home was one of those destroyed.