Fast-moving wildfire threatens Weed, Calif.
Sep. 3—A fast-moving wildfire in Weed, California, is forcing evacuations Friday afternoon.
According to a 5 p.m. post by Courtney Krieder of the Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office, the fire has burned several homes and has exploded in size.
Power is out almost countywide from the city of Mt. Shasta to Grenada. People should avoid traveling to the area, Kreider said.
The communities of Weed, Lake Shastina and Edgewood were placed under evacuation at 2 p.m. Friday due to the Mill Fire, according to the Siskiyou County Sheriff Office's Facebook page.
At least 5,000 residents in those areas were asked to leave immediately.
By 2:50 p.m., the fire was reported at 1,228 acres and had jumped Jackson Ranch Road and was burning into the community of Lake Shastina, which is north of Weed, according to the Redding Record Searchlight.
Firefighters have asked for at least five more strike teams to help fight the fire. Meanwhile, a temporary evacuation center is being set up at the Siskiyou County Fairgrounds in Yreka, according to scanner reports.
The blaze started about 1 p.m. Friday near the Roseburg Forest Products mill in Weed and quickly spread in hot and windy conditions to 500 acres in about an hour, the Siskiyou Sheriff's Office said in a statement.
Photos posted on social media showed massive flames in the town of Weed.
Christopher Rock, an employee at the Mayten Store in Montague, a town 30 miles north of Weed, said evacuees from the fire had swarmed the pumps.
"It's really busy right now," he said. "You can't see the flames from here, just a lot of smoke."
The National Weather Service issued a red flag warning for Siskiyou County from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday. Winds were expected to reach up to 31 mph in the Weed area, the weather service said.
As firefighters battle the Mill Fire, a second fire — called the Mountain Fire — was reported about an hour ago in the area of Gazelle.
The Mountain Fire is burning in heavy brush on the west side of Interstate 5 north of Weed. Firefighters there reported that no structures were threatened.
