Big rigs abandoned as freeway burns

SHASTA-TRINITY NATIONAL FOREST, Calif. — Truckers abandoned big-rigs and motorists screamed in fear as they came dangerously close to an explosive wildfire that shut down about 45 miles of a major California interstate near the Oregon border that authorities were desperately trying to reopen.

In a video, a passenger in a vehicle screams: “Oh my God, I want to go!” as nearby trees burst into flames.

“I can’t breathe,” the woman says, sobbing. “Please, guys, come put it out.”

The fire erupted Wednesday afternoon in a rural area and devoured timber and brush on both sides of Interstate 5 as it nearly tripled in size overnight, officials said Thursday.

Elsewhere in the state, a fire raging in the Sierra Nevada had grown to more than seven square miles after shutting down stretches of U.S. 395, State Route 108 and the Pacific Crest Trail along the eastern spine of California.

The two fires Thursday were raging just weeks after a blaze in the Redding area killed eight people and burned some 1,100 homes in a frightening start to the fire season.

The two fires destroyed or damaged a combined 8,800 homes and 329 businesses.

The blaze Thursday along Interstate 5 has blackened 23 square miles, prompting mandatory evacuations. It was moving rapidly but was still far from any large towns. Officials from a number of agencies were meeting to determine if they can reopen the highway, a key route for commercial trucks, California Highway Patrol Officer Jason Morton said.

The highway runs north from the Mexico border through California, Oregon and Washington state to the border with Canada.

About 17 big-rigs were abandoned along the interstate and at least four caught fire, Lt. Cmdr. Kyle Foster of the California Highway Patrol’s Mount Shasta office told the Los Angeles Times. At least two trucks were partially melted.

U.S. Forest Service workers helped the driver of one flaming truck to safety. Truckers, firefighters and others aided more drivers.