San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Woman, 2 kids die in Redding blaze
4-year-old boy tried to call 911 for help from house
REDDING — The bodies of a great-grandmother and two young children, reported missing soon after a huge wildfire began its push into Redding two days ago, were found Saturday in the ashes of their home. Family members had mounted a desperate search for Melody Bledsoe and her great-grandchildren, Emily Roberts, 5, and James Roberts, 4, at shelters and hospitals. They were ultimately summoned to the Shasta County Sheriff ’s Office, sobbing and hugging as they entered the building, to hear the news.
The family said authorities told them the 4-year-old had called 911 from the house.
“My nephew called, scared, for
help, but they said they couldn’t make it in time,” said Carla Bledsoe, the children’s aunt.
Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko confirmed bodies were found at the scene, although the victims have not been officially identified.
The confirmation from the family brought the death toll in the Shasta County Carr Fire to five, including two firefighters killed earlier. One was bulldozer operator Don Ray Smith, 81, of Pollock Pines, who authorities identified Saturday. Also killed was Jeremy Stoke, a fire inspector with the Redding Fire Department.
The huge wildfire continued to rage out of control, prompting new evacuations to be added to the nearly 40,000 people displaced by the blaze. One of the main evacuation shelters in Redding was at capacity, and additional shelters in churches opened to meet demand.
The aggressive blaze, fueled by winds and scorching temperatures — it was 104 in Redding on Saturday — nearly doubled in size from Friday. By Saturday evening, it had grown to 83,800 acres and was only 5 percent contained, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. On Friday, the fire was 48,312 acres.
The blaze ignited Monday from a vehicle mechanical failure near Whiskeytown, about 30 miles west of Redding, fire officials said. High temperatures and low humidity made the blaze unpredictable and fast-moving, creating fire tornadoes that uprooted trees and overturned cars. It was growing on three different fronts, officials said.
Steve Crawford from Cal Fire described it as “unprecedented. It’s burning in every direction all at the same time.” The neighborhood where Bledsoe and her great-grandchildren died experienced what officials described as a “flash fire,” leaving residents little time to escape.
“It was probably the scariest thing I’ve ever seen,” said Redding Police Chief Roger Moore, who lost his own home in the River Ridge district while he was patrolling the area Thursday.
More than a dozen people had been reported missing, although it was unclear how many have since been located, Bosenko said. As of Saturday evening, 536 structures had been destroyed, 117 damaged and nearly 5,000 remain threatened.
On Saturday, President Trump granted Gov. Jerry Brown’s request for federal assistance to help the communities impacted by the Carr Fire, according to a news release from the governor’s office. Crews mopped up hot spots and patrolled areas burned in the western part of Redding, where the fire jumped the Sacramento River and first entered the city, Cal Fire Division Chief Chris Anthony said.
“The immediate threat to the western Redding area has been mitigated,” he said.
Moore said the city has received reports of looting, including people driving through roadblocks, “shouldering doors and going into residences.”
“Unfortunately there are always predators out there willing to prey on victims,” Moore said.
Bosenko announced the first arrest for looting and said there are leads on other suspects. That news prompted cheers at a community meeting Saturday afternoon at a Redding elementary school, where more than 200 people gathered for information. Officials had no timeline for allowing residents to return, saying there are too many safety threats from the fire and downed power lines.
The Carr Fire descended on Redding late Thursday, the dry, hot summer weather creating a whirlwind of flames as the blaze entered the northwestern side of the city. High temperatures, low humidity and gusty winds are expected to continue, fire officials said.
The overnight hours once served as a reprieve for firefighters, lowering the heat and allowing them to gain containment when battling blazes of this size, Cal Fire Division Chief Chris Anthony said. But there has been no reprieve in the Carr Fire because winds have been gusting, causing the blaze to grow, he added.
“It’s the west winds combined with the fuel conditions, that’s what makes it so explosive,” Anthony said.
John Wynant, 66, drove down Menlo Way off Keswick Dam Road in his green pickup Friday and looked at the destruction that somehow stopped short of the home he built 40 years ago on 40 acres. He thought he had lost his home when he fled Thursday night after the fire jumped the river and raced toward him.
“When I left, everything was exploding around me,” Wynant said. “I kissed my house off.”
He managed to get around the barricades to see if his house was still standing.
“When I pulled into (the neighborhood) and it was still there, it was mind-blowing,” he said Saturday through tears.
Half a mile from his home, police blocked off Buenaventura Boulevard to investigate a suspected fire-related death. Downed power poles and smoldering ash littered the lots where dozens of homes once stood. A basketball hoop remained standing in a driveway, no longer a home behind it. A badly melted trampoline indicated where a backyard once stood.
Among the buildings that burned were the 1920s schoolhouse at Shasta Historic State Park, west of Redding, officials said. The brewery and cemetery in the historic area were damaged, but officials removed artifacts for safekeeping, according to Gloria Sandoval, a spokeswoman for California State Parks.
There were 3,410 fire personnel responding to the Carr Fire, including 328 engines, 67 fire crews, 17 helicopters, 62 bulldozers and 62 water tenders.