RED BLUF – At a town hall meeting on Friday evening, residents were able to ask rescue workers responding to the Park Fire questions about the incident and what happened next.
Firefighters struggled to fully contain the Mill Creek fire, with one onlooker wondering if the fire had already spread into the treetops or if it was still burning on the ground.
Cal Fire Section Chief John Frederick said the fire has reached Turner Loop Mountain Road, where crews were able to contain it. They were able to contain the spot fires in the meadow area. The fire is coming around Mill Creek and extending to Highway 36. It is then crossing Mill Creek and also entering the Doe Mountain area. It has not yet reached Child’s Meadow. Some spot fires have fallen into the Dixie Fire scar, which has been a great help to fire crews.
“The crews are definitely out there,” Frederick said. “They’re in the process of cleaning that up and continuing to hold our position up there.”
Another audience member asked if there was any update on the status of the fire near Chester Warner Valley Road. According to Cal Fire, the fire is south of Highway 36 in the Mill Creek drainage basin. The fuel separating the fire from the valley areas of Chester Warner Road is very scarce.
According to Tehama County Sheriff Dave Kain, there were no reported fatalities from the fire as of Friday evening. The sheriff’s office has not received any missing persons reports from the fire-related areas at this time.
An online question asked when residents would be able to get home and if they would need a valid ID to return to their homes. Kain responded that this was not the case as staff and crews were faced with this incident on a daily basis.
“We’re not going to send people back to their homes until it’s safe,” the sheriff said. “We’re making it a priority for people to understand that if they can’t be there, it’s for their own safety.”
Mineral resident Jim Richardson thanks all emergency responders who responded to the fire.
“At some point, you’re going to learn how to recover from this if your home or business is destroyed,” Richardson said. “It takes a lot of steps and a lot of time. Your recovery is going to take a lot more time, a lot more than we can imagine.”
A local assistance center for victims of the park fire will be set up at the Red Bluff Community Center, 1500 S. Jackson St. The center is open to people seeking additional resources and information to help them cope with this horrific incident.
The LAC is open from August 15 to 17 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
