A wildfire is hopscotching across a northern California county at a rate of roughly 80 football fields per minute, forcing evacuations, injuring residents and firefighters, and sending families racing from their homes.
A state of emergency has been declared for Butte County due to the effects of the Camp Fire, which began around 6:30 a.m. Thursday and quickly spread, said the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, known as Cal Fire. By 2:00 p.m. local time, it had grown to 18,000 acres, according to Cal Fire.
Fueled by winds, the wildfire jumped ridges from Pulga to Concow and down into Paradise, a town of 26,000 people about 85 miles north of Sacramento. Residents awoke to the stench of smoke and the morning horizon drenched in an ashen-orange that was difficult to see or drive through, hindering evacuations.
By 8 a.m. Thursday morning, Paradise resident Tanah Clunies-Ross said she could not see her car from her front door through the cloud of smoke. A fire had broken out in her yard, blocking the path to her car. She feared for her life until a man she didn't know came to her rescue and put it out with a hose.
"Had he not put out that fire, I would not have made it to the car," she said.
Morgan Mason said her father told her that he could hear propane tanks blowing up all over Paradise this morning.
Her father, a lineman for Pacific Gas and Electric Company, was called in from another district to help shut down power, she said.
"This does not look good at all," Mason said on Twitter. "Please keep Paradise and all the first responders in your prayers."
Evacuation orders are in place for Paradise, Magalia, Concow, Butte Creek Canyon and Butte Valley while hundreds of firefighters battle the blaze. At least two firefighters have been injured and multiple civilians injured, but number aren't available yet, Butte County Fire Battalion Chief Bill Reid said Thursday.
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