Forest Fire Ravages Scenic Canyon Area

Firefighters continued to battle a destructive forest and brush fire in Northern California’s scenic Feather River corridor Saturday as a handful of residents were allowed back into mountain retreats devastated by the blaze.

State Department of Forestry spokesman Scott McLean said firefighters from California and Oregon were able to bring roughly 40% of the 7,000-acre fire under control by Saturday morning.

But by evening, dry hot winds had begun to blow up the rocky canyons leading from Oroville Lake and the middle fork of the Feather River, igniting highly flammable manzanita and pine forests and renewing fears that Paradise, a resort and retirement community about 10 miles away, might be in danger.

The picturesque Feather River canyon off California 70, about 85 miles north of Sacramento, is considered one of the state’s most volatile fire zones because of the heavy night winds and arid terrain peculiar to the area. Of the three major forest fires raging in Northern California, this one is believed to be the most dangerous.

“The winds shift here at night,” McLean said. “They whip up canyon, down canyon and side canyon. All the fuels are extremely dry.”

Late Saturday afternoon, a Forestry Department chaplain escorted Susan Perkins, 60, back to the ruins of her home, a hilltop geodesic dome with a commanding, 360-degree view of the surrounding hills and Lake Oroville.

Her house was destroyed by the fire, leaving only a wood-burning stove and a steel safe intact. But a nearby garage, filled with house paint and with a gasoline can full of fuel on the front step, escaped virtually without damage.

Perkins, an artist and grandmother, said the losses included valuable family china.

But on Saturday, she was mourning more for the scorched fruit trees and pink dogwood that she had taken such care to water than she was for the destroyed home.

“We are children of God’s Earth,” she said. “The Earth stays after we die. This place was just a very dependent child that we took care of for a while.”

Perkins grew up in Pacific Palisades and moved north in 1969, first living in coastal Humboldt County and then here in the foothills of the Sierra. With this fire’s damage, she vowed to return to the coast.

After the blaze was ignited Thursday by a downed power line, it quickly spread to both sides of California 70. More than 1,800 firefighters, including brigades of state prison inmates, responded, setting up a staging camp at Pine’s Yankee Hill Hardware Store.

By Friday, more than 400 residents had been ordered to evacuate. Most of the damage to homes came that day, when 26 dwellings were destroyed. An additional 200 homes are considered to be in danger. Officials estimated damage to date at more than $2 million.

Among the evacuees were Howard Neel and his 15-year-old son, Travis. Neel said he was standing on the roof of his double-wide trailer when he saw a wall of fire heading toward him.

“It jumped about 200 yards in 30 seconds,” said Neel, who grabbed his pet, a pit bull named Nitro, and fled with his son.

But by Saturday afternoon, Neel was one of the several dozen residents gathered in a makeshift shelter at Spring Valley School, frustrated by delays in their attempts to return home and assess the damage.

Some families that did make it back were surprised that the fire had spared their homes. Although the surrounding forest was scorched, David and Catherine Walter found their home and perennial garden virtually untouched.

“We expected the worst. We were sure our place was destroyed,” David Walter said. “And then we came around the curve and saw all our flowers. It just makes the heart feel lighter.”