26 Homes Gutted, More at Risk in Butte County Fire

At least 26 homes were destroyed and 400 more were threatened as hundreds of people fled a raging wildfire in Butte County, north of Sacramento, that tripled in size Friday as strong winds kicked up.

“The fire was coming too far, too fast. . . . There was nothing but a big wall of fire,” said Kenneth Renfrow, 65, who lost his home and car minutes after he had packed it with valuables he hoped to save.

At least four people, including three firefighters, have been injured since the 6,580-acre fire began near the town of Jarbo Gap, about 85 miles from the state capital. None of the injuries were life threatening, said Tom Sitter of the California Department of Forestry.

In addition to the homes destroyed, 10 buildings, including two warehouses, were incinerated. The burned structures, most of them within a 3 square-mile area, were in the town of Yankee Hill near Big Bend Road.

The fire began Thursday morning when a dead tree fell onto power lines near a generating station, Sitter said. About 12:30 a.m. Friday, winds began to gust to 20 mph and the fire spread quickly. It consumed more than a dozen homes in a matter of hours, officials said.

About a 10-mile stretch of California 70, from Pentz Road to Jarbo Gap, was shut down, Sitter said. People were evacuated from Yankee Hill, Jarbo Gap and Cherokee, all on the east side of the state highway.

By late Friday, the fire was 20% contained, he said. More than 260 firefighters battling the blaze had only limited access to the remote, rocky ground in the Sierra foothills.

Renfrow, whose son’s cabin was also destroyed on the family’s 10-acre property, put photo albums, a coin collection, his first-edition books and his antique guns in his car. But the fire moved too quickly.

“All the treasure stuff I wanted to keep was in the car,” said Renfrow, who escaped with only the blue jeans, red T-shirt and blue cap he had on. “They said I couldn’t take the car. It was too hot. They said it would just blow up.”

Others in the area were slightly luckier.

Sandra Young said the only reason her Yankee Hill home was spared was because her husband had the foresight to install sprinklers on the roof. Her family was evacuated Thursday afternoon and is staying with friends in nearby Paradise.

“The winds did shift on Friday afternoon,” she said. “If it wasn’t for the Rain Birds, we would have lost the house, like our neighbors. Now the area looks like it got nuked. There’s no vegetation left.”

At 9 p.m. Thursday, she and her husband returned to their home to refill the generator with gasoline and keep the sprinklers going.

But her greenhouse, her workshop and her husband’s shop were destroyed along with several neighbors’ homes.

“About a half-mile away, on top of a ridge, I saw an enormous glow,” the organic farmer said. “It was eerie and scary. I knew if the winds shifted, we’d be in trouble.”

It is expected to take until at least Wednesday to fully contain the fire, Sitter said. In Paradise, about 60 people have been staying at a temporary Red Cross shelter set up in an elementary school.

“Some people have lost their homes,” said Mary Lou Forgey, a Red Cross worker. “They’re very upset and looking now at how they’ll rebuild. Others are very concerned because they don’t know what happened to their homes. The not knowing is what’s very tough.”

Despite the intensity and scope of the blaze, residents moved out of the area calmly, said Mike Campbell, an assistant information officer for the Butte County Fire Department.

“It’s a lot more laid-back here than down in L.A.,” he said. “The people have been for the most part pretty cooperative.”

The blaze was one of three major fires burning in Northern California. It turned the sky brown around Lake Oroville, about 85 miles north of Sacramento, and left the area reeking of smoke.

Meanwhile, a wildfire near the small community of Hathaway Pines, west of Yosemite National Park, swelled to more than 2,600 acres overnight, up from 1,850 late Thursday. It was 45% contained.

Nearly 400 homes in nine communities have been evacuated and two minor injuries have been reported. On Wednesday the fire severely damaged a wooden flume used to supply water to six towns.

It could take three months to repair the flume, said Paula Schnarr, a fire information officer for the Forestry Department. About 2,690 firefighters were tackling the blaze in steep terrain, officials said.

Earlier in the day, crews launched an aggressive air attack, as they have been doing since the fire broke out Wednesday.

Also in the region, a wildfire west of Lake Tahoe had charred 13,500 acres of brush and pine, but was more than 60% contained.

Times staff writers Richard Fausset and Miles Corwin contributed and Associated Press was used in compiling this story.