California Fire Razes Down Dozens of Homes

There’s a 30,000-foot shadow cast over Northern California.

A tall smoke plume, according to the National Weather Service in Sacramento, is the reason for the shadow, with the smoke coming from the Carr Fire in Shasta County.

The fire has led to the evacuation of 38,000 residents within Shasta County and the burn area, Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko said. The California National Guard says it has 800 soldiers and airmen currently on the ground or en route to the Carr Fire to help.

Officials were driving Friday through the smoldering remains of a neighborhood in the Northern California city of Redding, trying to determine the number of homes lost to the fast-moving wildfire that also has killed two people.
A CNN crew in one neighborhood estimated dozens of homes had been reduced to nothing but piles of ash.

Residents and relatives were allowed back in to see whether there were items that could be salvaged or whether pets left behind could be found.