WEED, Calif. — They had prepared for wildfires and knew of the drought-parched forests, but the inferno that swirled through the California lumber town of Weed moved so quickly all people could do was flee.
In just a few hours, wind-driven flames destroyed or damaged 150 structures, a saw mill and a church. At times, the fire moved so fast that residents had only a few minutes to get out of the way.
On Tuesday, the “Weed Like To Welcome You” town sign still stood, but nothing else was normal as stunned residents assessed the damage, took stock of what they lost and gave thanks for what was saved.
“At the peak, essentially the entire town was evacuated,” state fire spokesman Robert Foxworthy said.
Disastrous as the fire was for the community of 3,000 people, daybreak brought gratitude and relief that there were no reports of death or even serious injuries.
The intense blaze erupted Monday south of Weed. Elsewhere in the state, hundreds of firefighters battled about a dozen other persistent blazes.
Winds gusting up to 40 mph pushed the flames into town, where they quickly chewed through a hillside neighborhood. Officials said a significant number of the structures burned were houses; three firefighters lost their homes in the blaze. The cause is still under investigation.
“It went through here so fast it was unbelievable. I’ve never seen anything like this,” Jim Taylor, a retired butcher who has lived in the town for 30 years said Tuesday. “I’m not a real religious person, but somebody was looking out for me.”
The town’s saw mill, once the world’s largest, was among the structures damaged in the blaze.
“Once the fire kicked off, you had wind driving it from the south. It got into the crowns of trees, and then it was moving extremely quickly from structure to structure, block to block,” said Dennis Mathisen, another state fire spokesman.
