Carr Fire claims three more lives, destroys more than 500 structures

Destruction across the rural areas outside Redding on July 27.

Service.

The challenges facing firefighters – steep terrain and hot weather combined with dry brush and other vegetation that can fuel a fire – are among the most difficult they could encounter, said Greg Bertelli, an incident commander at the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

“Any one of those factors will make containing a fire extremely difficult,” Bertelli said. “The Carr Fire, at times, experienced all three combined. This fire is moving, at times, three or four different directions.”

The Carr Fire swept into Redding on Thursday night and has so far burned more than 80,000 acres, with only 5 percent containment, officials said. About 38,000 people were evacuated in Shasta County. About 5,000 structures are threatened.

The fire also has compromised the integrity of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Bridge, which spans Clear Creek in rural Igo, according to the California Highway Patrol.

An evacuation center at Shasta College reached capacity at 8 a.m. Saturday. More than 500 people

forced from their homes are bunking in the campus’ cafeteria and gymnasium, and livestock and pets are being housed in the school’s agricultural pavilion. The evacuees in the air-conditioned facilities include residents of three senior care facilities, many of whom are not mobile, according to Peter Griggs, the college’s director of marketing and outreach.

“We are at a very safe distance,” he said.

At a late-morning briefing at the college, ash rained down on fire officials as they told evacuees no one could answer the top question on everyone’s mind: When can we go home?

“This fire still has very explosive behavior,” one official told evacuees. “It’s likely to continue that way.”

Many people who brought pets and weren’t allowed inside camped in their cars in the parking lot or on cots laid out on one of the campus’ open lawn areas.

News of the magnitude of the property damage was just filtering through the impromptu community of evacuees Friday night.