One Dead As California Battles Raging Wildfire Spreading Near City

At least one person was killed in a fast-growing wildfire that sent residents fleeing from the northern Californian city of Redding, where homes and businesses burned and power was cut on Friday, fire officials said.

The Shasta County Carr Fire grew by about 60 percent overnight, scorching 44,450 acres (18,000 hectares), state fire officials said.

The blaze, which has killed a firefighter operating a bulldozer, was just 3 percent contained and threatened almost 500 homes and businesses, state officials said early Friday.

It has moved east from the communities of Whiskeytown and Shasta and crossed the Sacramento River to threaten the city of Redding, home to 90,000 people. Fire officials said the mechanical failure of a vehicle sparked the blaze on Monday.

"The fire is moving so fast that law enforcement is doing evacuations as fast as we can. There have been some injuries to civilians and firefighters," California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) spokesman Scott McLean told the Sacramento Bee newspaper. "It's way too dynamic and burning quickly."

Winds were forecast to reach speeds of 25 miles (40 km) per hour, with temperatures reaching 110 Fahrenheit (43 Celsius), conditions that could fan the flames further and hamper efforts to combat the blaze.

The Carr Fire is one of 88 burning nationally, mostly across the American west, one of which prompted the closure of much of Yosemite National Park.

This year so far, almost 4 million acres (1.6 million hectares) have been blackened by wildfires, above a 10-year average of 3.6 million acres (1.5 million hectares) over the same period, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

Cal Fire officials were not available to provide details about the injuries to civilians and firefighters, or how much damage the blaze had caused.

Roads out of the city, about 150 miles (240 km) north of Sacramento, were jammed overnight with motorists trying to escape the flames, social media postings showed.

Two residents who chose not to leave were 61-year-old Rob Wright and his wife, who planned to fight off flames with a high-powered water hose.

"We were fortunate enough that the wind changed about hours ago and it is pushing the fire back," said Wright, at about 1:15 a.m. local time. "We are just waiting it out ... crossing our fingers and hoping for the best."

Trying to make a stand

Some 1,750 firefighters are battling the blaze, Cal Fire said.

"They're doing what they can, they're trying to make a stand where they can," McLean said. "It's extreme. It's blowing up off and on again."

Video footage and images posted on social media showed flames engulfing structures as an orange glow lit up the night sky.

Residents were evacuated to a nearby college and elementary school, and a local ABC news station stopped covering the fire in order to evacuate.

A Red Cross employee told local ABC affiliate KRCR there were some 500 people in the evacuation center at Shasta College.

Multiple power outages were reported, the city said on its website. More than 3,000 customers had lost power in the area, according to utility PG&E.

Two other major fires are also burning in the state.

Cal Fire said the Cranston Fire, about 110 miles (177 km) east of Los Angeles had blackened 11,500 acres (4,650 hectares) and was just 3 percent contained. The Ferguson Fire near Yosemite National Park, which has charred 45,911 acres (18,500 hectares), was 29 percent contained.

Two weeks ago, a firefighter died fighting the Ferguson Fire east of San Francisco when a bulldozer overturned. Seven other firefighters were hurt.