The Mill Fire, which prompted the evacuation of Weed and smaller communities to the north, had grown to 3,921 acres with 20 percent containment, Cal Fire spokesman Robert Foxworthy said. Weed Mayor Kim Greene said Saturday morning that most of the damage she is aware of was in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood and Lake Shastina, with reports of 100 homes destroyed in Lincoln Heights. “They seem to have been hit worse,” Green said. “From the map I saw last night, it looks like most of the houses in Lincoln Heights are gone. We’re just trying to assess that right now.” Cal Fire Siskiyou Unit Chief Phil Anzo told The Associated Press the same assessment, adding that crews were working around the clock to protect structures in Weed and Carrick, a subdivision to the east. “A lot is at stake in that Mill Fire,” he said. “There’s a lot of communities, a lot of homes there.” Two people were taken to Mercy Medical Center Mount Shasta, according to the AP. One was in stable condition and the other was taken to the burn unit at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento. Cal Fire firefighters work to contain the spread of the Mill Fire at a property in the Lake Shastina subdivision northwest of Weed, Calif., Friday, Sept. 2, 2022. Hung T. Vu Special to The Record Searchlight via AP
Mountain fire in rugged terrain
Meanwhile, the Mountain Fire had grown to 3,395 acres in a wooded, mountainous area west of Yreka by early Saturday, according to Cal Fire. In the town of Gazelle, Colleen Brown and her husband, Steve, had a long Friday night. He said they watched “bulldozer after bulldozer” being dragged behind big rigs up the hill toward the Mountain Fire, burning in the hills west of town. They could see trees on fire on the hillside. “You could see the orange glow,” he said. “We were very nervous last night.” The fire was 5 percent contained this morning, crews said. With a giant plume building to the west Saturday morning, he said they would be ready to leave immediately if the wind started blowing the fire toward Gazelle. In the sparsely populated hills west of Gazelle, dozens of bulldozers, fire engines and other heavy equipment were parked on a private ranch preparing for the pending afternoon fire, as planes and helicopters flew overhead already attacking the blaze from the sky. The few homes along Gazelle-Callahan Road west of Gazelle appeared to have survived the fire. Further west along the curving county road, the fire had burned Friday through pines, cedars and firs on both sides of the road. Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency late Friday for Siskiyou County — which was just beginning to recover from last month’s McKinney wildfire, which killed four people in the Klamath River community — and announced that the state had secured a grant of FEMA to help pay for firefighting efforts. The Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office reduced some evacuation zones, but mandatory orders remained in zones SIS-2218, SIS-5102, SIS-2334 and SIS-2337 for the Mill Fire and zone SIS-5203 for the Mountain Fire. Lake Shastina remains evacuated after “a very sad day for our community,” according to the Lake Shastina Fire Department. “The Mill Fire burned well into the Lake Shastina residential area with many structures lost,” Fire Chief Stephen Pappas said in a news release. “We don’t have an exact number of houses lost at the moment nor can I give you specific roads that have been affected. The fire came into the area from the southern end and has moved north. “It remains a significant risk to homes that are still standing throughout the Lake Shastina community, and there is an active fire still burning deep in our community.” Fire officials estimate it could take several days to repopulate the area of about 2,400 residents. As much of California suffers an epic heat wave, the duel flames represented the latest chapter in a grim season of wildfires in far northern California. Along with McKinney, a total of eight major fires have burned in the area this year. The Six Rivers Lightning Complex, about 70 miles southwest in the rugged hardwoods of Trinity and Humboldt counties, was still burning after nearly a month. Mark Ghilarducci, director of the state Office of Emergency Services, said fire crews were deployed to 18 counties to prepare for other wildfires that could ignite during the mammoth heat wave. “Fires can start very easily,” he said Saturday. The state expects “a number of new fires to start.” Chris Anthony, Cal Fire’s chief deputy director, added, “We just started on Labor Day weekend. The hottest and driest days are still ahead of us.”
The Mill Fire started quickly, moving northwest
The Mill Fire, reported Friday afternoon, is believed to have started near the Roseburg Forest Products lumber mill, one of Weed’s largest employers, Mayor Kim Greene said Friday. The mill was extensively damaged in the 2014 Boles Fire, and early Saturday one of its buildings was little more than a smoking pile of rubble. A spokeswoman for Roseburg confirmed Friday that some of the company’s property burned, but said company officials did not know how or where the fire started. Greene said she heard the shed where the fire is believed to have started was part of an old section of the mill that was slated to be torn down. Cal Fire’s Anthony said, “I cannot confirm the location of the fire or the cause of the fire.” A plume of smoke covers the sky as the Mill Fire approaches in Weed, Calif. Friday, Sept. 2, 2022. Hung T. Vu The Record Searchlight
Mill Fire Map
This live-updating map shows the location of the Mill Fire, right, and the Mountain Fire, with satellite heat-sensing data for hot spots. Click the legend button for more information. iFrames are not supported on this page. Sources: US Department of the Interior, IRWIN, NIFC, NASA, NOAA, and Esri
Fueled by south-to-north winds, the Mill Fire moved quickly beyond Weed and toward the community of Shastina Lake—but not before destroying much of Weed’s Lincoln Heights neighborhood, a small working-class neighborhood that had served as the heart of the Black community during Weed’s glory days as a lumber town.
When a Sacramento Bee reporter visited the neighborhood early Saturday, much of it was in ash as smoke lingered in the air. Pick-ups and other vehicles were charred, while some houses had only their chimneys standing.
As the fire moved north, nearby communities such as Carrick and Lake Shastina were ordered to evacuate. Carrick appeared to have mostly weathered the fire, but a Bee reporter saw at least five homes destroyed in a Lake Shastina housing subdivision early Saturday. There did not appear to be an active fire, but firefighters were sheltering cars that were bathed in pink fire retardant dropped from aircraft. The whole area was covered in a haze of smoke.
Highway 97, a major thoroughfare in the area, was closed for miles.
“It just seems like it never stops,” Weed resident Scott Payne, 59, said, recalling the fires that have swept through the area in years past.
Cal Fire firefighters work to contain the spread of the Mill Fire at a property in the Lake Shastina subdivision northwest of Weed, Calif., Friday, Sept. 2, 2022. Hung T. Vu Special to The Record Searchlight via AP
Green was among those who escaped on Friday. “What I can see right now is just a lot of black smoke,” the Weed mayor said as she piled her belongings into her car.
Greene was at the town’s community center when she learned of the fire and soon saw airlifters flying overhead, preparing to drop water.
Shelly Burgess, who lives in the Angel Valley area of the city, not far from the Roseburg mill, said: “We looked out the window and saw a lot of smoke.”
She had gathered her grandchildren and other relatives and “we piled them all in the car. … Strong winds — you have to move fast. You need to get out of there fast. We have passed the fire of Boles.’
Green said the long-term recovery team created after the 2014 Boles Fire has already begun working to help Weed recover, and city officials have declared a state of emergency and plan to meet Saturday to discuss what’s next. steps.
A neighborhood smolders after being destroyed by the Mill Fire in Weed, Calif. Friday, Sept. 2, 2022. Hung T. Vu The Record Searchlight
The biggest challenge…
