Firefighters suffer burns in fast-moving California fire

ANGELS CAMP, Calif. - Hundreds of people rushed to escape a massive wildfire charging across the tinder-dry Sierra Nevada foothills, and another fast-moving blaze broke out in Northern California Saturday that caused burn injuries to four firefighters.

The firefighters, all members of a helicopter crew, got burned while battling the 400-acre blaze that began in Lake County, about 100 miles north of San Francisco, and forced the evacuation of a town of about 1800, said Daniel Berlant, a California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman.

The firefighters were rushed to a hospital burn unit for treatment; their conditions have not been released.

To the east, a blood-red sun pushed through a choking fog of smoke and ash that turned the grassy, tree-studded Sierra Nevada foothills about 70 miles southeast of Sacramento an eerie white. Away from the burned-out cars and smoldering remains of homes, Annette Stout and other residents who fled the flames rested at evacuation centers.

Stout was ordered from her house Friday afternoon, and for the first time since her husband's death in March, she drove their recreational vehicle to safety in Angels Camp, a quaint town made famous by Mark Twain's "The Celebrated Tale of the Jumping Frog of Calaveras County."

"I grabbed my cats, their carriers, important papers, my husband death's certificate and his ashes," said Stout, who lives in the community of Hathaway Pines.

Despite the outpouring of help at the center set up at the Calaveras County Fairgrounds, she didn't sleep well.

"We knew we were safe here, but (I was) worrying about the house, worrying about those who didn't leave," she said.

The blaze that ignited Wednesday exploded to more than 100 square miles in two days amid triple-digit temperatures and land parched from several years of drought. Crews increased containment slightly, but by noon the fire picked up again, fire officials said.

"It's very, very intense fire behavior, I mean it's record fire activity," said Julie Rider, a spokeswoman with the Cosumnes Community Services District Fire Department.

The fire has destroyed at least 15 buildings and threatened some 6,400 more.

At the fairgrounds, Joe Thomas rested on a folded tent near his pickup truck, one of dozens of parked cars and RVs. He described what he could save from the flames - and what he couldn't.

"I lost my business - it's all burned up - my shop, my house, 28 years of living," said Thomas, who lives near the community of Mountain Ranch. "I got to start all over. It's depressing."

Thomas, who runs a tractor dealership and repair business, said he and his wife grabbed papers, his work computer, photos and their four dogs. But they left a goat, five ducks, six rabbits and more than 30 chickens behind.

"I turned the pens open and turned them lose. I just couldn't gather them up," he said. "All we want to do is go home. It's miserable."

Michelle Griffiths checked on livestock after spending much of the night rescuing her neighbors' four horses and seven cats in the community of Mountain Ranch.

"People were running for their lives two nights ago," which is when her neighbors left their house and livestock for a motel, Griffiths said.

"Fortunately, our house is still standing" and so is the neighbors', she said.

Heat and low humidity created problems taming the flames overnight, and triple-digit temperatures were again expected to hinder the fight, said Mike Mohler, a Cal Fire spokesman.