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WADE CITY, Calif. (AP) — Her home was destroyed, her dog went missing and her 10-year relationship with her boyfriend recently ended — All Naomi Vogelsan could do Saturday was sit in Northern California Outside the wildfire evacuation center, with $20 in his pocket, waiting to go to the casino.
“It couldn’t have been worse,” she said.
Vogelsang is one of thousands displaced this week by California’s latest inferno, this time in the Serenity neighborhood of Wied, about 280 miles (451 kilometers) northeast of San Francisco. Most tourists know this town as a novelty, the place to stop for an ironic t-shirt while traveling on Interstate 5.
But for the people who live here, the past few years have introduced another worry in a world that fills them: dark skies, swirling ash and flames that run so fast that there is little time to escape .
This time it was a blaze known as the Mill Fire. The fire spread from Roseburg Forest Products, which makes wood products, to near Lincoln Heights, where a large number of homes were burned and residents had to flee Friday afternoon. By Saturday night, the fire had spread to more than 6.6 square miles (17 square kilometers) and was 25 percent contained.
After escaping the blaze, 63-year-old Judy Christensen recalled a similar escape 40 years ago, when she was a young parent who had to evict her children from a burning house. Last summer, a wildfire forced her to evacuate and leave her pet behind. Now, Christensen says she has been leaving seat belts on her pets so she can grab them and leave at any time.
“Whenever this happens, I get really bad,” Christensen said from the front seat of a car at the Yreka evacuation center, with her orange cat Felix napping in the back seat. “I can’t figure it out.”
Nestled in the shadow of Mount Shasta, a 14,000-foot (4,267.2 m) volcano that is the second highest peak in the Cascade Range, Wade is no stranger to wildfires.
Strong winds in the area caused the town’s founders to draw flames for a very different reason. Civil War soldier Abner Weed reportedly witnessed the surrender of Union General Robert E. Lee before moving to California, according to lifelong resident Bob West. Choose to build a sawmill there as the wind will dry out the wood. He is the co-owner of Ellie’s Espresso and Bakery, a coffee and sandwich shop that houses some historic items from the town’s past.
High winds made Weed and the surrounding area a dangerous place for wildfires, sending small fires into a frenzy. Three fires have burned Weed since 2014, a period of extreme drought that sparked the largest and most destructive fires in California history.
The drought persists as California enters its traditionally worst fire season. Climate change has made the West warmer and drier over the past three years and will continue to make weather more extreme and wildfires more frequent and destructive, scientists say.
Dominic Mathis, 37, said he had had several close encounters with wildfires since he lived in Weed. But he had no interest in leaving.
“It’s a beautiful place,” he said. “Everyone is at risk everywhere, like Florida has hurricanes and floods, Louisiana has tornadoes and so on. So, it’s everywhere. Unfortunately, it’s on fire here.”
Evacuation orders for 7,500 people went into effect quickly on Friday, including 53-year-old West, who has lived in Weed since he was 1. He has never been evacuated due to the fire, but now he has to do so twice.
“It’s worse than before,” he said. “It affects our community because people leave because they don’t want to rebuild.”
Cal Fire Siskiyou Division Chief Phil Anzo said crews worked day and night to protect buildings in Weed and the eastern subdivision known as the Carrick Addition. He said about 100 buildings were destroyed.
The pair were taken to Mount Shasta Charity Medical Center. One is in stable condition and the other was transferred to UC Davis Medical Center, which has a burn unit.
“Mill Fire has a lot of risk,” Anzo said. “There’s a lot of community there, a lot of houses.”
Evacuees and firefighters quickly filled local hotels, while others scrambled to stay with family and friends outside the evacuation zone.
Vogelsang was not so lucky. She said she slept on Weed’s bench until she could get a ride to the evacuation center. She said she spent most of her time crying for her 10-year-old English bulldog, Bella, who, despite her best efforts, would not follow her out of the fire and get lost.
“My dog is everything to me,” she said. “I just feel like I’ve lost everything important.”
Associated Press reporter Stefanie Dazio from Los Angeles.
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