Duration 0:28
Timelapse shows Carr Fire burning into the night in California
Residents were evacuated from the city of Redding, California on July 26 after the Carr Fire spread. The Carr Fire, which jumped the Sacramento River on Thursday, had burned about 44,400 acres by Friday.
By Cody Markhart via Storyful

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Live updates: ‘Wall of flames’ leaves 2 dead, homes destroyed as massive fire sweeps into Redding

BY ANITA CHABRIA, KELLEN BROWNING, RYAN SABALOW, SAM STANTON AND TONY BIZJAK
July 27, 2018 06:44 AM
Updated 36 minutes ago
REDDING 
The Carr Fire in Shasta County leveled dozens of homes in the Redding area, killed two people and forced evacuation orders for more than 37,000 people after it jumped the Sacramento River Thursday, and firefighters were trying to make a stand Friday to halt its progress.
Cal Fire confirmed Friday morning that a Redding firefighter died battling the blaze, but few details were immediately available. It was the second death from the fire — a private bulldozer operator died Thursday night battling the blaze.
Three other firefighters from the Marin County Fire Department suffered burns to their ears, face and hands Thursday night as they were trying to protect structures and were hit with a “sudden blast of heat from vegetation adjacent to a structure,” the department said in a Facebook post.
The three - Scott Pederson, 37; Tyler Barnes 34; and Brian Cardoza, 26, were treated at Redding’s Mercy Medical Center. One was later brought to the UC Davis Burn Center in Sacramento for further evaluation.
“There was literally a wall of flames coming into the city of Redding,” Cal Fire Battalion Chief Jonathan Cox said Friday morning.
Cox said the fire was not advancing as of Friday at 8 a.m., but firefighters were wary of what the afternoon would bring.
Cal Fire officials warned Redding-area residents to be ready for further evacuations. Cox said firefighters were concerned winds could pick up later in the day pushing the fire east, deeper into the city of Redding, where 91,000 people live.
The National Weather Service was predicting winds moving southeast of up to 25 miles per hour in the area this afternoon. Temperatures in Redding Friday were expected to reach 111 degrees, adding to the challenges facing firefighters as they fight for control.
“We’re definitely going to see a significant increase of acreage burned,” Cal Fire spokesman Scott McLean said. “We all saw what happened last night. We ask people to keep their head on a swivel.”
Similar to last year’s devastating fires in Napa and Sonoma, the Carr Fire made its way into residential subdivisions on the west side of the city. In the Mary Lake neighborhood, at least half a dozen homes were burning Thursday night.
In nearby Lake Redding Estates, at least 40 homes were completely destroyed, and the charred wreckage of cars, patios and wooden walls were still smoking Friday morning.
Dozens of residents found their way back into their neighborhoods - some of them on bicycles - to salvage what they could from the remains as firefighters surveyed the damage.
On Harlan Drive, Kent Fiscus was shocked to find that his house, though damaged by an uprooted tree, was untouched by fire. Even the chickens in his yard were still alive. Directly across the street, his neighbors’ house had burned to the ground.
“It’s devastating, and I don’t know how we got so blessed,” Fiscus said, growing emotional as he looked at his damaged home. “I feel so bad for my neighbors across the street. How this place is still standing there, I’m blown away.”
Kent’s wife, Julie, evacuated around 4 p.m. Thursday, and went to pick her husband up from the airport. She said she brought just a few essentials, like passports and birth certificates.

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