The Carr Fire in Shasta County exploded in intensity early Friday morning after it jumped the Sacramento River, killing two people and forcing Redding residents to flee in hasty evacuations as homes burned in the hills on the outskirts of the city.
Cal Fire confirmed that a Redding firefighter was killed Friday morning, but few details were immediately available. It was the second death from the fire — a private bulldozer operator was killed Thursday night battling the blaze.
As dawn broke Friday, the situation had not improved in Redding, a city of 91,000 people. Cal Fire Captain Scott Kenney said it was “still a very active fire” that had destroyed 65 structures so far and threatened nearly 5,000 more. Thousands had been evacuated as the blaze exploded to more than 44,000 acres since Thursday, and remained only 3 percent contained. Fire officials said a “mechanical failure of a vehicle” started the blaze Monday at about 1:15 p.m.