Evacuations lifted for Shasta County fire tied to arson charge

REDDING » Officials have lifted all evacuation orders after crews made great progress corralling a wildfire that was started by a woman last week and has destroyed dozens of homes near Shasta Lake in Northern California, authorities said Wednesday.

The Fawn Fire was 75% contained after destroying 185 homes and other buildings in an unincorporated area north of the city of Redding, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said.

Alexandra Souverneva, 30, is being held at Shasta County Jail after being charged with felony arson to wildland with an enhancement because of a declared state of emergency in California, prosecutors said. Souverneva pleaded not guilty.

The Fawn Fire has charred more than 13 square miles of heavy timber.

It’s the latest destructive blaze to send Californians fleeing this year. Fires have burned more than 3,075 square miles so far in 2021, destroying more than 3,000 homes, commercial properties and other structures.

Those fires include a pair of big forest blazes burning for more than two weeks in the heart of giant sequoia country on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada. More than 1,700 firefighters battled the KNP Complex Fires, which covered 76 square miles by Wednesday.

Half of that land scorched this year — 1,505 square miles — was burned by the Dixie Fire across five counties in the northern Sierra and southern Cascades region. It is the second-largest fire on record in California and has destroyed more than 1,300 homes, businesses and other structures. It was 94% contained as of Wednesday.

Pacific Gas & Electric has acknowledged that its equipment may have played a role in sparking the blaze on July 13. Fire officials estimate the blaze will be fully contained by Oct. 30.

A historic drought in the American West tied to climate change is making wildfires harder to fight. It has killed millions of trees in California alone. Scientists say climate change has made the West much warmer and drier in the past 30 years and will continue to make weather more extreme.

ETHAN SWOPE — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, FILE Flames consume a house near Old Oregon Trail as the Fawn Fire burns about 10 miles north of Redding in Shasta County on Sept. 23. Officials have lifted all evacuation orders after crews made great progress corralling the wildfire.

MIKE CHAPMAN/THE RECORD SEARCHLIGHT VIA AP Katie Wright hoses down a family home on Casa Drive in an evacuated neighborhood about a half-mile from the Fawn Fire near Redding on Sept. 23.