ANGELS CAMP, Calif. — Hundreds of people rushed to escape a massive wildfire charging across the tinder-dry Sierra Nevada foothills on Saturday, with some saying they had to make wrenching decisions about what to save — pets, loved ones’ ashes — and what to leave to possibly burn.
A blood-red sun pushed through a choking fog of smoke and ash that turned the grassy, tree-studded area about 70 miles southeast of Sacramento an eerie white. Away from the burned-out cars and smoldering remains of homes, Annette Stout and other residents who fled the flames rested at evacuation centers.
Stout was ordered from her house Friday afternoon, and for the first time since her husband’s death in March, she drove their recreational vehicle to safety in Angels Camp, a quaint town made famous by Mark Twain’s “The Celebrated Tale of the Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.”
“I grabbed my cats, their carriers, important papers, my husband’s death certificate and his ashes,” said Stout, who lives in the community of Hathaway Pines.
Despite the outpouring of help at the center set up at the Calaveras County Fairgrounds, she didn’t sleep well.
“We knew we were safe here, but (I was) worrying about the house, worrying about those who didn’t leave,” she said.
The blaze that ignited Wednesday exploded to more than 100 square miles in two days amid triple-digit temperatures and land parched from several years of drought. But crews gained some ground Saturday, increasing containment slightly despite smoke grounding helicopters and air tankers, state fire officials said. The fire has destroyed at least 15 buildings and threatened some 6,400 more.
At the fairgrounds, Joe Thomas rested on a folded tent near his pickup truck, one of dozens of parked cars and RVs. He described what he could save from the flames — and what he couldn’t.
“I lost my business — it’s all burned up — my shop, my house, 28 years of living,” said Thomas, who lives near the community of Mountain Ranch.
Thomas, who runs a tractor dealership and repair business, said he and his wife grabbed papers, his work computer, photos and their four dogs. But they left a goat, five ducks, six rabbits and more than 30 chickens behind.
Heat and low humidity created problems taming the flames overnight, and triple-digit temperatures were again expected to hinder the fight, said Mike Mohler, a California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman. “Since this fire started, we’ve seen fire activity in the middle of the night that we (normally) see in the middle of the day,” he said.
