PG&E worker suffers fatal injuries in connection to Carr Fire

A seventh life has been lost in connection with the devastating and growing Carr Fire, as a utility worker died in an accident Saturday afternoon while working in a remote part of Shasta County.

Jairus Ayeta, a 21-yearold apprentice lineman with Pacific Gas and Electric, was performing electric power restoration work when he “sustained fatal injuries involving a vehicle accident,” according to Melissa Subbotin, a PG&E spokeswoman.

Further details were not immediately available, but Subbotin said the utility is working with authorities to investigate the incident.

By Sunday morning, the Carr Fire had charred 154,524 acres and destroyed 1,604 structures, including more than 1,000 homes. The fire was 41 percent contained as of Sunday afternoon, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire.

Two firefighters have been killed, along with Ayeta and four other people since the fire began nearly two weeks ago.

More federal aid will be on the way to assist with the Carr Fire impacts, as President Donald Trump approved Gov. Jerry Brown’s request for Presidential Major Disaster Declaration for Shasta County late Saturday, Brown’s office announced.

“This is part of a trend – a new normal – that we’ve got to deal with. We’re dealing with it humanly, financially and governmentally,” Brown said of wildfires while at the Carr Fire Incident Command Post in Shasta County Saturday. “These kinds of horrible situations bring people together, regardless of the lesser kind of ideologies and partisan considerations.”

Brown also requested the same declarations be ordered by the president for Lake, Mendocino and Napa counties Saturday due to effects from the Mendocino Complex fires and other recent wildfires. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, is reviewing the requests for Lake, Mendocino and Napa counties “on an expedited basis,” Brown’s office said.

The Ranch Fire – one of two separate fires that comprise the Mendocino Complex – nearly doubled in size over the past two days, ripping through large swaths of the Mendocino National Forest, said Tricia Austin, a fire spokesperson.

Dry, hot conditions were driving the blazes, with afternoon winds stoking the flames, Austin said.

The River and Ranch fires combined have destroyed 130 structures, including 68 homes, while damaging 26 other structures and homes. Together, they have chewed through 254,982 acres of land, and were 33 percent contained as of Sunday morning, Cal Fire said.

More than 8,000 firefighters and crew members were working to suppress the Mendocino Complex fires and the Carr Fire.