Whiskeytown Lake – Carr Fire

At Sister’s House in Citrus Heights, CA

On Monday, July 23rd, a fire broke out at the Carr Powerhouse along highway 299 near Whiskeytown Lake, west of Redding California.  (NOTE: Judge Francis C. Carr (1875-1944) and his descendants played a prominent role in the development of the federal Central Valley Project, including Shasta Dam, and the creation of the Whiskeytown National Recreation Area.  The powerhouse was named after him.)  Above is a picture which ran Monday in the Redding Record Searchlight of the fire…and as you can see, there was a sailboat out in the lake just enjoying the day.  Monday night and Tuesday morning the fire was listed as being 2,500 acres, and 5-15% contained.

 

Above is what it looked like as we passed through the area on June 13th…such a pretty lake, and pretty area.

By Wednesday night the fire had more than tripled, and this is one of the last “good” pictures of Whiskeytown lake, again found in the Redding Record Searchlight. 

    

Today many news organizations are running pictures like these two above…Whiskeytown Lake has been devastated, the fire has reached Redding 14 miles to the east, and the fire, as of Saturday night, is listed at over 80,000 acres, there have been 5 deaths, and over 500 structures have been destroyed, with nearly 5,000 more being threatened, and over 30,000 people have been evacuated from Redding and the surrounding area. 

With temperatures hitting 110, and winds blowing through the area, and with the fire itself creating its own tornado-like winds (as shown in this picture from a video on KPIX Channel 5)…this whole situation is out of hand.

Last year, the Chetco Bar Fire in Oregon (picture above taken on morning of solar eclipse shows the smoky affect in the area), which was caused by lightening, was allowed to burn for weeks, just a small little fire on July 12th, which grew into a 191,125 acre fire.  For weeks the forest service did little to try and put it out.  July 20th it was at 300 acres. August 2nd, up to 2,900 acres.  August 19th, it was over 22,000 acres, and by August 24th it was over 102,000 acres.  We learned of the fire while camping at Huntley Park around the 10th, and by the 22nd we evacuated the area and headed back to Sacramento.  Had they attacked the Chetco Bar Fire like they did the Lobster Creek Fire this year, no one would have even known of the Chetco Bar Fire.  Up in Redding, they did attack this fire, perhaps they could have been more aggressive at it, perhaps we need to be better prepared for something like this…but it is totally out of hand…and it isn’t going to be over for a long time.  Our thoughts and prayers are with the folks in and around Redding California, especially to those heroes that gave all, and to those who lost love ones.  Like Santa Rosa last year, it is going to be a long, hard fight to not only put out the fire, but to recovery from this terrible disaster.