California wildfires: Nine missing as flames rip through forests sparking 'burning tornado' and killing two firefighters

Huge blaze: Wildfires have torn through parts of California
Getty Images
Fiona Simpson28 July 2018

Two firefighters are dead and nine people have been reported missing as monster wildfire raged through northern California.

Flames destroyed hundreds of homes as fire ripped through towns leaving thousands of residents fleeing for their lives.

Some 3,400 firefighters on the ground and in helicopters and airplanes battled the 48,300-acre (19,500 hectares) Carr Fire early on Saturday as it tore through Redding, a city of 90,000 people, in California's scenic Shasta-Trinity area.

More than 38,000 residents across Shasta County fled their homes as the fire began to gain speed and intensity on Thursday, destroying 500 structures and leaving Keswick, a town of 450, in smouldering ruins, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said.

Devastating scenes: Police survey homes leveled by the fire
AP

A bulldozer operator and a member of the Redding Fire Department were killed in the blaze. A Redding hospital said it had treated eight people, including three firefighters.

Nine people, including a woman and her two great-great grandchildren, were missing, a CBS news reported.

Mark Peterson, whose home burned down, tends to his surviving goats during the Carr fire near Redding
AFP/Getty Images

The woman's husband Ed Bledsoe told the station that he left them home to run an errand on Thursday night.

"He called and said 'grandpa you need to come, the fire is coming at our house now,'" Mr Bledsoe said of a phone call he had with his great-great grandson. "I can't see how I can go on without them."

Blackened landscape: Flames rip through wildfires in California
REUTERS

The flames erupted into a firestorm on Thursday when it jumped across the Sacramento River and swept into the western side of Redding gale-force winds during the night created a fire "tornado," fire officials said.

California has had its worst start to the fire season in a decade, with 289,727 acres burned on Friday morning alone, according to National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) data.

Devastating blaze: Flames have torn through forests in California
EPA

Governor Jerry Brown requested emergency federal assistance to prevent an "imminent catastrophe" as Shasta County tried to find supplies and water for evacuated residents and care for horses and cattle rescued from ranches and farms.

Wildfires have blackened an estimated 4.15 million acres (1.68 million hectares) in the United States so far this year. That was well above average for the same period over the past 10 years but down from 5.27 million acres (2.13 million hectares) in the first seven months of 2017, NIFC reported.

Agencies contributed to this report.

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