REDDING, Calif. �� A wildfire that has killed six people and destroyed more than 1,000 homes was expected to make its way deeper into the rugged Northern California forest Saturday as gusty winds and hotter weather increase its potential to spread.
More than 4,500 firefighters stationed in two Shasta County base camps have battled the 141,825-acre Carr fire for nearly two weeks, facing triple-digit temperatures, winds up to 30 mph and desert-dry air.
The fire _ which has affected communities around Whiskeytown Lake and the Sacramento River _ is moving into areas where it will be more difficult to control, fire behavior analyst Don Boursier said. Years of drought left California's forests more vulnerable, and so far this year the area around the Carr fire has seen 33 days of 100-degree temperatures, the National Weather Service said.
It hasn't rained in the Redding or Anderson areas in 71 days.
"The calendar is saying it's August, the fuel is telling us its September," Boursier told firefighters at during a morning briefing.
The fire is now 41 percent contained and expected to burn north, deeper into Trinity County forest land around Blue Mountain, officials said.
On Saturday morning, incident leaders told firefighters that reinforcements were on the way, which should bring their total numbers to more than 5,000 within days. Two firefighters and four civilians have died in the fire.
The forecast for Saturday was a mixed bag for crews battling the Carr fire and the communities they're tasked with protecting.
To the west, winds are expected to intermittently push the fire back onto itself, allowing crews ahead of it to conduct burn operations to rob the fire of vegetation it needs to grow. At the same time, residents have been slowly allowed to return home as the fire's southeastern flank closest to neighborhoods is being contained.
But the blaze's northern face _ where it's burning in gulches, along steep canyon faces and on rocky ground difficult to access _ is another story.
There, conditions were expected to clear up in the afternoon. "That's going to open up, remove the smoke, expose the fire to that air. It's going to take a deep breath and it's going to start to move on us," Boursier said.
Throughout California, there are 17 large wildfires burning, ranging in size from 35 to more than 140,000 acres. Combined, they have scorched over 410,000 acres and displaced around 40,000 residents, and are being fought by an army of more than 14,000 firefighters from around the state and country.
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(Panzar reported from Los Angeles. Sonali Kohli in Los Angeles contributed to this report.)
