WEED, Calif. — A hot drizzle fell over the Weed Community Center on Monday, where nearly all of the 157 cots assembled by the American Red Cross had been occupied by evacuees from the McKinney fire the night before.
Dozens of people milled about, some anxious and others bored, as the blaze raged in the nearby Klamath National Forest. Many feared the worst, but for Harlene Schwander, 81, it had already happened: Her house, located along Highway 96, has been leveled by the fire.
"If I had known, I would have gotten more," Schwander said. "I would have taken my sunglasses! I wasn't thinking."
Schwander, an artist, said she had almost nothing left save for the clothes on her back and the handful of family photos she grabbed before she fled Saturday with her three Cavalier King Charles spaniels.
For residents across Siskiyou County, it was an anxious waiting game as the McKinney fire burned out of control, destroying an unknown number of homes and spreading through more than 55,000 acres, making it the largest fire so far this year in California. Authorities announced Monday that two people were found dead inside a car in the fire zone, though no other details were available.
About 650 firefighters battling the blaze were contending with triple-digit heat and possible thunderstorms that could set off dangerous conditions. There were about 10 other smaller fires burning in Klamath National Forest.
The fire started about 2:38 p.m. Pacific time Friday near Highway 96 and McKinney Creek Road southwest of the Klamath River, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The cause is under investigation.
It grew explosively and now threatens several rural communities, including the town of Yreka.
Some neighborhoods on the western side of Yreka were ordered to evacuate, though officials said they saw little progression overnight on the edge of the fire closest to the city.
"Definitely Yreka is of concern as is the other populated areas like Fort Jones," said Caroline Quintanilla, spokesperson for the U.S. Forest Service. "So we're focusing on protecting the people, life and property."
At the evacuation center in Weed, Schwander assessed all she has lost to the flames.
Among them were original paintings, photographs from her childhood and an antique rocking horse that, according to family lore, President Richard Nixon rode on as a baby.
Her daughter, who lives nearby, managed to save a trunk full of jewelry.
"I'll be naked but laden with jewels," Schwander joked. Despite her good humor however, she wasn't really sure what she would do next. She lives on Social Security — about $700 a month — and said she hadn't been able to afford insurance on her home.
It was an all too familiar story for some residents of Siskiyou County, for whom fire is no stranger. Weed Mayor Kim Greene said much of the area was rebuilt after the Boles fire tore through in 2014, and many residents still had vivid memories of that blaze.
"What the people in Weed who have lost and rebuilt will tell you — this is the new normal," she said. "Our slogan in Weed is, 'You can log it, you can graze it, or you can burn it down,'" she said. "The state of California chooses to burn it down."
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