One person died in a raging Northern California wildfire that caused thousands to flee and destroyed hundred of homes over the weekend, prompting fire officials on Monday to say they had never seen a blaze grow so rapidly.
A body was found at a burned home in the Middletown area after a disabled woman had apparently been unable to evacuate, according to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
The Valley Fire started Saturday afternoon near Middletown, in Cobb, about 75 miles north of San Francisco. It had burned 62,000 acres — or about 95 square miles — by Monday, and was just 10 percent contained.
Some 9,000 structures were threatened Monday, according to Cal Fire. Multiple people were unaccounted for, authorities said.
After the blaze began around 1:30 p.m., the sheriff’s office was flooded with calls from people asking for help evacuating, and from relatives asking for deputies to check on family members in the area.
One of those calls came in at 7:12 p.m., with a request to help an elderly, disabled woman. When deputies arrived at her home on Hot Springs Road some 17 minutes later, the subdivision was already engulfed in flames and deputies could not reach the residence, a Sheriff’s Office news release stated.
After the flames subsided, human remains were found inside a burned-down home.
The victim was 72-year-old Barbara McWilliams, who had multiple sclerosis and could not drive, her caretaker told the Los Angeles Times. Describing her heartbreak at being unable to get to McWilliams’ home after realizing how large the fire had gotten, Jennifer Hittson said she begged officials to rescue her employer, but was told no one could help.
“The Sheriff’s Office and all first responders express their condolences to those who have been affected by this disaster,” the sheriff’s release stated. “We are hopeful that the fire does not claim any more lives.”
On Monday, fire officials said the blaze moved faster than scientific models had prepared them for.
“Whether you’re a rookie firefighter … or a seasoned veteran, everyone is saying the same thing: have not seen fires spread and move in the way they’re moving in this case,” Cal Fire Chief Ken Pimlott said at a morning news conference Monday in Sacramento.
Authorities ordered mandatory evacuations for the communities of Middletown, Harbin Hot Springs and Big Canyon Road in southern Lake County, north of Napa Valley. More than 5,000 are without power, according to Cal Fire.
Some 400 structures had burned, Cal Fire said Sunday night. By Monday, they were simply saying “hundreds”
More than 1,440 firefighters were trying to contain the blaze.
Families took what they could as the flames raced toward them, but many memories were left in ashes, fire officials said.
“We just came on down. I mean, we couldn’t stay there, that’s for sure,” Cobb resident Joyce Reim told CNN affiliate KGO. “We were stuck in the middle of the fire for a while and couldn’t go either way.”
Pimlott blamed the state’s extreme four-year drought and heightened average temperatures for making vegetation much drier and fire prone. The cause of the fire was under investigation, he said.
The inferno brought action from Gov. Jerry Brown, who declared a state of emergency in Lake and Napa counties.
“The conditions are worse. They’re drier, and therefore these fires are acting more aggressively, more unpredictably,” Brown said at Monday’s news conference.
“One thing about these conditions — fires are not political. Climate change is not political. It’s real,” Brown added.
The governor’s move will expedite debris removal and waive fees to replace essential documents like birth certificates for those who’ve had to abandon their homes and belongings.
The Butte Fire, meanwhile, was continuing to burn in the Gold Country foothills about 40 miles southeast of Sacramento.
After starting near the community of Jackson on Sept. 9, the Butte Fire had burned 71,523 acres and was 35 percent contained by Monday. It destroyed 135 homes and more than 80 other structures, according to Cal Fire.
Some 23,000 people had been displaced by the two major fires, Mark Ghilarducci, director of the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, said, according to the Associated Press.
As the wildfires exploded over the weekend, four firefighters were injured. They were transported to a Sacramento-area burn center for treatment.
They suffered second-degree burns and were in stable condition at UC Davis Medical, Cal Fire spokesman Daniel Berlant said.
Many Southern California agencies sent firefighters to the Butte and Valley fires, as well as the Rough Fire, which is the largest active fire in the state. The Rough Fire was started by a lightning strike July 31 and has burned more than 215 square miles, largely in the National Forest land east of Fresno.
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