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California wildfire injures ‘several people’ and destroys multiple homes

Fire started at lumber mill owned by Roseburg Forest Products

Graeme Massie
Los Angeles
Saturday 03 September 2022 02:09 BST
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Related video: Walker Fire erupts near Willits, California, prompts highway closure and evacuation

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A California wildfire has injured “several people” and destroyed multiple homes as more than 7,500 residents have been forced to evacuate.

The Mill Fire in Northern California has spread to more than 1,000 acres and is threatening the small towns of Weed, Lake Shastina, and Edgewood, according to the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office.

Suzi Brady, a Cal Fire spokeswoman, said that several people were injured and taken to a hospital, but did not know the extent of the injuries, reports the Associated Press.

She told reporters that the blaze was being fanned by winds of up to 36mph and that 200 firefighters are battling it on the ground and from the air.

The fire began on the property of a lumber mill owned by Roseburg Forest Products, north of the town of Weed, California.

Rebecca Taylor, communications director for Oregon-based Roseburg Forest Products said the company did not know where or how the fire had started on Friday.

“We’re just devastated to see this fire affecting the community in this way,” she said.

According to KCRA 3 the fire started at a building before it spread to vegetation

Weed is located about 70 miles north of Redding, California, and is to the west of Mount Shasta.

A 2014 wildfire in Weed destroyed 110 homes and damaged 90 more. Two churches, a library, and a community centre were destroyed in that blaze.

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