Jon Heggie, a battalion chief for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said that the first call on Friday came in at 12:49 p.m. from a subdivision in the town of Weed, near a property owned by a wood products company, where some older buildings were in the process of being demolished. Within two hours, the blaze had grown to some 900 acres and evacuation orders had been issued for Weed and several nearby communities.
By 7 p.m., the blaze had grown to 2,580 acres, Cal Fire authorities said.
Kimberly Greene, the mayor of Weed, said that she was at the local community center, rebuilt after a 2014 wildfire, when the spouse of co-worker ran in and reported smoke in the distance.
“By the time we walked outside,” she said, “you could see the flames jumping the street.”
The air was hot and dry, she said, and the wind was “howling.” She rushed home and packed her car while fielding reports from fire authorities and from her neighbors in the working class town of about 2,900.
“We have our toiletries and our important papers, we have our guns out of the safe and packed and our trailer ready to go,” she said. She had not yet heard of any fatalities, but she said that a number of homes had been destroyed and that the swiftness of the blaze concerned her.
Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/01/us/california-wildfire-burns-homes-and-forces-entire-town-to-flee.html
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