McKinney Fire Grows to More Than 55,000 Acres, 2 Found Dead in Burned Vehicle

Updated 3:20 p.m., Monday, Aug. 1

Two bodies were found inside a charred vehicle in a driveway in the wildfire zone of the McKinney Fire, one of several wildfires menacing thousands of homes Monday in the western U.S., officials said. Hot and gusty weather and lightning storms threatened to boost the danger that the fires will keep growing.

The McKinney Fire near the state line with Oregon exploded to more than 55,000 acres after erupting Friday in the Klamath National Forest, firefighting officials said. It is California’s largest wildfire of the year so far and officials have not determined the cause.

The vehicle and the bodies were found Sunday morning in the driveway of a residence near the remote community of Klamath River, the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.

Nearly 5,000 Northern California homes and other structures were threatened and an unknown number of buildings have burned, said Adrienne Freeman, a spokesperson for the U.S. Forest Service.

The smoky blaze cast an eerie, orange-brown hue in one neighborhood where a brick chimney stood surrounded by rubble and scorched vehicles on Sunday. Flames torched trees along State Route 96 and raced through hillsides in sight of homes.

Firefighting crews on the ground were trying to prevent the blaze from moving closer to the town of Yreka, population about 7,500. The blaze was about four miles away as of Monday.

On Saturday, Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency as the McKinney Fire intensified.

The fire “destroyed homes, threatened critical infrastructure and forced the evacuation of almost 2,000 residents,” Newsom’s office wrote, in a statement. The proclamation allows Newsom more flexibility to coordinate emergency response and recovery effort decisions and to access federal aid.

The #McKinneyFire is so intense it’s creating its own weather — pyrocumulonimbus clouds which can generate lightning (starting new fires) and strong winds (spreading existing fires)

50,000+ acres already burned near the CA/OR border 🔥pic.twitter.com/xDFvNRpSlu

— Chase Cain (@ChaseCainNBC) July 31, 2022

A second, smaller fire in the region that was sparked by dry lightning Saturday threatened the tiny California community of Seiad.

Freeman said “there has been significant damage and loss along the Highway 96 corridor” that runs parallel to the Klamath River and is one of the few roads in and out of the region

She added: “But just how much damage is still being assessed.”

Erratic storms were expected to move through Northern California again on Monday with lightning that threatened to spark new fires in bone-dry vegetation, forecasters said. A day earlier, thunderstorms caused Southern California flash flooding that damaged roads in Death Valley National Park.

Mandatory #McKinneyFire evacuation orders are in effect for a roughly 40-by-40-mile area in Siskiyou County, along the Oregon border. County’s evacuation map:https://t.co/plkX66tzwG pic.twitter.com/u5bJgYslaI

— Dan Brekke (@danbrekke) July 31, 2022

Over the weekend, California law enforcement knocked on doors to urge residents to get out and safely evacuate their livestock onto trailers. Automated calls were being sent to land phone lines as well because there were areas without cell phone service.

“We are asking people to evacuate. The area is very rural,” said Roxanne Strangfeld with Siskiyou County Probation in a video posted on Twitter. “We are noticing that there are quite a few people helping each other, which is a really wonderful thing in this time of lots of stress.”

The Pacific Coast Trail Association urged hikers to get to the nearest town while the U.S. Forest Service closed a 110-mile section of the trail from the Etna Summit to the Mt. Ashland Campground in southern Oregon.

The McKinney Fire also closed about 30 miles of State Route 96 between Scott River Road, which leads into the Klamath National Forest and State Route 263, about 10 miles northwest of Yreka.

Fire departments in the Bay Area sent firefighters to Siskiyou County to help contain the McKinney Fire and nearby wildfires.

On Friday, the U.S. House of Representatives approved wide-ranging legislation aimed at helping communities in the West cope with increasingly severe wildfires and drought — fueled by climate change — that have caused billions of dollars of damage to homes and businesses in recent years. The measure combines 49 separate bills and would increase firefighter pay and benefits, boost resiliency and mitigation projects for communities affected by climate change, protect watersheds, and make it easier for wildfire victims to get federal assistance.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, called the bill “a major victory for Californians — and for the country.” The Oak Fire, the largest wildfire so far this year, “is ravaging our state,” she said. “At the same time, countless of our communities regularly suffer lack of rainfall that can kill crops and further fuel fires.”

The House bill would deliver “urgently needed resources” to combat fires and droughts, “which will only increase in frequency and intensity due to the climate crisis,” Pelosi said. The bill includes $500 million to preserve water levels in key reservoirs in the drought-stricken Colorado River and invest in water recycling and desalination.

The bill now goes to the Senate.

KQED’s Cesar Saldaña contributed to this report. Matthew Daily from the Associated Press contributed to this report.