The Camp Fire roaring through Butte County is already the most destructive fire in California history, killing at least nine people, consuming 100,000 acres and destroying nearly 7,000 structures in its first 48 hours.
And with heavy winds forecast for Saturday night, fire officials feared that the fire is far from finished.
Air crews took advantage of calmer winds Saturday afternoon to attack the fire burning about 100 miles north of Sacramento. Dozens of people are reportedly still missing and about 15,000 structures remain threatened, with new mandatory evacuations ordered Saturday in Brush Creek and Berry Creek, just northeast of Lake Oroville, home to the nation's tallest dam.
In February 2017, more than 180,000 residents were evacuated from the region near the Oroville Dam when a damaged emergency spillway threatened to release a 30-foot wall of water into nearby communities after a winter of heavy rains. Dam officials shored up the spillway and lowered the lake level to avoid a catastrophe.
Now, construction operations on the Oroville Dam spillway rebuild have been shut down until further notice because of the fire, said Erin Mellon, a spokeswoman for the Department of Water Resources. Some workers have lost their homes.
"It's just an awful thing to see happen year after year," Mellon said of California's recent rash of deadly wildfires.
Hundreds of residents near the devastated town of Paradise, just east of Chico, are waiting for word about loved ones still missing after the Camp fire tore through the town of 26,000.
The immediate concern Saturday was the fear of strong winds returning this evening. Firefighters were battling the fire on two fronts, as it burns to the north toward the town of Stirling City and the south toward Lake Oroville. It is no longer an immediate threat to Chico, the largest city in the county.
Cal Fire reported concerns that winds could drive the fire across Lake Oroville and toward the city of Oroville. A police spokeswoman in Oroville said there was no immediate threat, but Cal Fire spokesman Kevin Tidwell said strong wind gusts Saturday night could create the potential for the fire to reach the city.
"We'll see what the weather does," Tidwell said.
So far, 6,453 homes have been destroyed and the fire has scorched an area three times the size of San Francisco. At least nine bodies have been recovered _ five of them from vehicles as the drivers tried to escape the fire. Dozens of people remained unaccounted for.
Smoke as thick as fog lingered on the streets of Chico on Saturday. Cal Fire trucks were still prominent on the streets, delivering crews to and from the fire lines north of Paradise, which was largely reduced to rubble.
"We are used to fires that we can control at breaks or towns. Not this time," said Oakland Fire Department Battalion Chief Robert Lipp, who is part of a task force that could be called to help with the fire. "I cannot imagine fully how difficult this is for residents. Usually, the towns remain, and that is where people turn for refuge and mental recovery. Where do they go when even the city and services and meeting places are gone?"
Some residents of Paradise refused to leave.
Brad Weldon, who had his ailing blind 90-year-old mother at his home, decided to stay and fight the fire himself.
"It was like fighting an elephant with a piece of spaghetti," Weldon said. "We were fighting with a garden hose."
His home was one of the only houses in the area to survive, he said. On Saturday, Weldon was searching for gas to run his generator, he said, but was warned by law enforcement he wouldn't be let back into the neighborhood if he went too far.
Michiel McCrary, who also stayed in his house off Skyway in Paradise, said his home was surrounded by walls of flame on three sides by 9 a.m. Thursday.
"It was bad," McCrary said. "It was real bad."
After a sleepless night fighting the fire, his house survived.
"We just did everything we could," he said.
After being jammed with cars full of families trying to flee the flames Thursday and Friday, the streets were quiet Saturday, with most people hunkered down in shelters or out of the area.
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(Staff writer Annie Sciacca and staff photographer Jane Tyska contributed to this report.)
