Carr Fire - Black Thursday 26 July 2018

[GrauGeist]

A fire started near Whiskeytown Lake in western Shasta county on Monday, 23 July 2018 as a benign brush fire. Fire crews jumped on it and had it close to containment, but on Wednesday 26 July, the humidity suddenly dropped and the winds came up and the fire became uncontrollable.
By the morning of 26 July, it roared eastward, tearing into the old Goldrush town of Shasta, then the old town of Taylor and then consumed the old town of Keswick. By 7 p.m. the evening of the 26th, it was on the western border of the city of Reddingand this time, the fire had already killed 5 people and was poised to claim 3 more.

I had gone to the old Blue Gravel Mine, which was on a plateau on the western edge of Redding at 7:30 that evening, with three cameras (two Pentax DSLRs and a Canon 35mm) to see what was going on.
I had no idea that in the space of 35 minutes, I would see the fire thunder into town fueled by an actual fire tornado, coming to within a half mile of my place by 8:30 that evening.

These are the photos of that fateful evening...

7:43 p.m. - Looking north-west. The dark cloud in the background is an F3 tornado.

7:44 p.m. - looking west by northwest.

7:45 p.m. - the fire-tornado (black cloud in the background) is drawing smoke up from a closer portion of the fire. This is a scan from a 35mm print I took at the time.

7:47 p.m. - another view to the north-west.

7:48 p.m. - looking west.

7:49 p.m. - the fire is now moving southward into another tract of homes.

7:52 p.m. - a National Guard helicopter is landing at nearby Benton Field.

7:53 p.m. - Looking to the west, the fire is moving fast.

7:59 p.m. - looking to the north, the fire tornado (black cloud) has now scoured several neighborhoods and caused the fire to jump the Sacramento river, putting the Quartz Hill area in jeopardy but it's losing momentum.

8:00 p.m. - the new columns of smoke rise in the devastation caused by the fire tornado (darker cloud to the right).

8:07 p.m. - the fire tornado has "blown out" and the smoke cloud is drifting to the east.

An hour later, about a half mile north of my home...

8:55 p.m.

8:56 p.m.

8:59 p.m.

 

[Wurger]

 

[fubar57]

Brutal shots Dave

 

[Crimea_River]

Tragic events. Hope you OK and that your home is safe.

 

[mikewint]

Good Grief Dave, absomylutely unforking believable. Hard to believe anything is around to be burnable after the last one.
For whatever good...my thoughts and prayers

 

[Airframes]

Hell's Teeth !
I hope you're safe and well.

 

[michael rauls]

A fire started near Whiskeytown Lake in western Shasta county on Monday, 23 July 2018 as a benign brush fire. Fire crews jumped on it and had it close to containment, but on Wednesday 26 July, the humidity suddenly dropped and the winds came up and the fire became uncontrollable.
By the morning of 26 July, it roared eastward, tearing into the old Goldrush town of Shasta, then the old town of Taylor and then consumed the old town of Keswick. By 7 p.m. the evening of the 26th, it was on the western border of the city of Reddingand this time, the fire had already killed 5 people and was poised to claim 3 more.

I had gone to the old Blue Gravel Mine, which was on a plateau on the western edge of Redding at 7:30 that evening, with three cameras (two Pentax DSLRs and a Canon 35mm) to see what was going on.
I had no idea that in the space of 35 minutes, I would see the fire thunder into town fueled by an actual fire tornado, coming to within a half mile of my place by 8:30 that evening.

These are the photos of that fateful evening...

7:43 p.m. - Looking north-west. The dark cloud in the background is an F3 tornado.
View attachment 505989

7:44 p.m. - looking west by northwest.
View attachment 505990
7:45 p.m. - the fire-tornado (black cloud in the background) is drawing smoke up from a closer portion of the fire. This is a scan from a 35mm print I took at the time.
View attachment 505991
7:47 p.m. - another view to the north-west.
View attachment 505992

7:48 p.m. - looking west.
View attachment 505993

7:49 p.m. - the fire is now moving southward into another tract of homes.
View attachment 505994

7:52 p.m. - a National Guard helicopter is landing at nearby Benton Field.
View attachment 505995

7:53 p.m. - Looking to the west, the fire is moving fast.
View attachment 505996

7:59 p.m. - looking to the north, the fire tornado (black cloud) has now scoured several neighborhoods and caused the fire to jump the Sacramento river, putting the Quartz Hill area in jeopardy but it's losing momentum.
View attachment 505997
8:00 p.m. - the new columns of smoke rise in the devastation caused by the fire tornado (darker cloud to the right).
View attachment 505998

8:07 p.m. - the fire tornado has "blown out" and the smoke cloud is drifting to the east.
View attachment 505999

An hour later, about a half mile north of my home...

8:55 p.m.
View attachment 506000
8:56 p.m.
View attachment 506001

8:59 p.m.
View attachment 506002

Those last three especially are realy unnerving to look at even on a computer screen. We had some big fires down here to( Lake elsinore)but nothing like that.
Main thing is glad your ok.

 

[billrunnels]

Hang in there and stay safe.

 

[Gnomey]

Scary shots Dave! Glad your place survived it.

 

[GrauGeist]

Thanks guys!

It was touch and go for several days. The fire was finally turned back from town only through the grace of God and a super-human effort by first responders. So Redding is out of danger even though the Carr still burns both to the north and to the south, mostly in remote and inaccessible areas.

 

[michaelmaltby]

... glad Redding has been spared further destruction. Stay safe and well.

 

[GrauGeist]

... glad Redding has been spared further destruction. Stay safe and well.

Thank you!

Will do!

 

[Shinpachi]

I want to share the water from our typhoons, Dave.
I'm glad you are safe.

 

[GrauGeist]

Thank you for your kind offer, Shinpachi-san!

We would gladly accept it - we just need to figure out how to get it over here!

 

[Shinpachi]

Thank you Dave.
Here are two typhoons coming next week.
We need no more rain !

 

[vikingBerserker]

Man, who ticked off Mother Nature?

 

[at6]

Man, who ticked off Mother Nature?

Tis a fickle b*tch she is.

 

[mikewint]

Nature is a M O T H E R!!!

 

[Peter Gunn]

Man, who ticked off Mother Nature?

Yeah, that was me pretty much, we had a date a while back and I told her that the dress she was wearing made her butt look big...

 

[mikewint]

You're lucky, I told her that it was her butt that made the dress look big!