Move FM Global News

CALIFORNIA, U.S. – The rapidly growing wildfire in Northern California’s Redding city, initially dubbed the Carr Fire, has turned monstrous in size, generating flames as high as 100 feet.

According to officials, the fire is being sparked further by fierce winds and dry conditions, which have turned the wildfire into ‘firenadoes’ in the city. 

For several days now, the terrifying Carr Fire has been ravaging parts of Northern California and has so far killed two people that were battling the blaze and has razed more than 125 buildings to the ground. 

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Cal Fire Chief Brett Gouvea said, “This fire is extremely dangerous and moving with no regard to what’s in its path.”

Cal Fire, the state agency responsible for fighting wildfires said that the winds were making the firenadoes more erratic and so far, at least two fire tornadoes have been reported in the region.

Weather experts define firenadoes as “fire vortexes” or “fire whirls.”

According to Cal Fire spokesperson Heather Williams, “It occurs when ground level winds come into contact with a fire and whip it into the air, creating a tornado-shaped spiral of flames.”

On Friday morning, winds in Shasta County, California reached up to 30 mph and apart from residents in Shasta and Keswick, residents in Redding were affected drastically by the blaze.

Officials said on Friday, “Firefighters continue to work aggressively to build containment lines around the Carr Fire. Their efforts have been hampered overnight due to extreme fire behavior and challenging wind conditions.”

Meanwhile, local officials in several areas have ordered evacuations and overall so far, 37,000 people are under evacuation orders. 

Thousands of people are scrambling to escape the wall of flames and even as they tried to escape the fierce fire from smoldering them and the few belongings that they managed to take with them, many said that the fire leaped across the wide Sacramento River and torched subdivisions in Redding.

Scott McLean, another Cal Fire spokesperson has said that the two flaming tornados reported in the region continue to topple trees, shake firefighting equipment and destroy everything in their path. 

In a warning on Friday, fire officials said that the blaze would probably burn deeper into urban areas before there was any hope of containing it.

Jonathan Cox, battalion chief with Cal Fire has said that fire crews in Redding had abandoned any hope of containing the flames for a while and instead focused on saving lives.

He said, “We’re not fighting a fire. We’re trying to move people out of the path of it because it is now deadly, and it is now moving at speeds and in ways we have not seen before in this area.”

The National Interagency Fire Center has said that the Carr Fire is among 88 active large fires scorching the country and one of six large wildfires in California.

A massive blaze continue to burn outside Yosemite National Park and in the San Jacinto Mountains east of Los Angeles near Palm Springs.

In response to the fires, California Gov. Jerry Brown has declared a state of emergency for Riverside and Shasta Counties.

However, with brutally hot weather forecast over the weekend, and temperatures set to reach 110 degrees, authorities are bracing for more damage.