DIXIE & RIVER FIRES: NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
‘It’s completely life changing’: Fire evacuees return home to burned-down properties
Sat, August 7, 2021, 4:22 PM
More Placer County residents are learning the status of their homes after fire officials lifted most evacuation orders on Friday. “I lost my house in the fire,” said Emily Mathe, who manages the Beach Hut Deli in Colfax. “But it’s ok. We’re working it out together, as a family.” Mathe grew up on Bear View Drive, just north of Colfax High School. She learned from family members that her childhood home was destroyed in the River Fire.
SACRAMENTO BEE
https://www.sacbee.com/news/california/fires/article253308773.html
Plumas County deputies searching for five people missing from Dixie Fire zone
Plumas County officials are searching for five missing people after the Dixie Fire swept through Greenville, destroying most of the Northern California town.
On Friday evening, the Plumas County Sheriff’s Office said that eight people were reported missing, including five from Greenville, which on Wednesday was ravaged by the wildfire. The Dixie Fire has burned 446,723 acres, making it the third-largest wildfire in state history, and is 21% contained.
By Saturday afternoon, five people previously reported missing were found safe and two new missing persons reports were made.
Three people still missing from Friday are Danny Sczenski of Greenville, Glen Gallagher of Greenville, and Donna Shelton of Chester. Deputies have received reports that Gallagher and Shelton are safe but have not made contact with them.
Two new missing persons are Dianne Doppert of Greenville and Lena Rhynes, also of Greenville.
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The Sheriff’s Office said that they have found 21 missing people safe since Friday.
Nearly every building in Greenville was burned earlier this week, and the fire burned through Canyondam on Thursday as it headed north. Many communities are still under evacuation orders, including the northwestern portion of Plumas County nearly to Quincy, and the northeastern tip of Butte County. Crescent Mills and Chester are both under mandatory evacuation orders.
Mike Wink, a Cal Fire battalion chief, said in a Saturday morning briefing that eight commercial structures in Chester near the Highway 89 and Highway 36 intersection have been confirmed destroyed and damaged.
Cal Fire’s Butte Unit said in a Saturday morning update that a total of 184 structures have been confirmed destroyed, adding more than 40 more losses to the total tally overnight. Growth on the fire was modest overnight, a welcome reprieve after days of rapid expansion. On Friday, 110,000 acres of fire growth made the Dixie Fire the third-largest fire in California’s history.
The largest-ever fires were 2020’s August Complex, at 1,032,648 acres, and 2018’s Mendocino Complex, at 459,723 acres.
Cal Fire says 66 homes destroyed by River Fire as crews work to contain blaze
