By Demian Bulwa
The San Francisco Chronicle (California)
Copyright 2006 The Chronicle Publishing Co.
All Rights Reserved
More than 1,500 firefighters battled a wildfire in the rugged hills of Trinity County on Sunday as flames approached the gold-mining town of Weaverville for the second time in five years.
The Junction Fire, which started Saturday afternoon near Junction City, was burning Sunday east over Oregon Summit through territory thick with dry brush and timber toward Weaverville’s historic downtown. About 2,000 homes and 200 businesses were threatened.
Some mountainside residents were forced to evacuate, while others were asked to move voluntarily. An emergency shelter was set up at Douglas City Elementary School in nearby Douglas City. At Trinity General Hospital in Weaverville, 21 patients were transferred to Redding.
By Sunday night, the blaze had burned 3,126 acres and was 30 percent contained, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. One home had been destroyed, and only escorted traffic was allowed on Highway 299, which connects Redding and Eureka.
Just one minor injury had been reported, and officials had not determined Sunday how the fire started.
Firefighters fought the blaze with 145 engines, 31 bulldozers, four helicopters and one air tanker. The Department of Forestry was being assisted by the U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service, California Highway Patrol, Trinity County Sheriff’s Office and local government agencies.
In Weaverville, a town of about 3,500 people founded by gold miners in 1850, residents were on edge as they tried to gather information about the fire’s approach. It didn’t help that a downtown restaurant was destroyed Saturday evening by a blaze unrelated to the larger fire.
“I think we’re all a little apprehensive,” said Brian Muir, who with his wife, Jeanne, owns the seven-room Weaverville Hotel on Main Street, which has a long history of catching fire. “We realize it can get out of control very easily.”
The innkeeper, who was listening for fire updates on a scanner, was forced to evacuate his home in 2001, when the Oregon Fire burned nearly 2,000 acres in the same general area. Nine houses went up in flames.
Many residents of Weaverville, which features three blocks of buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places, now keep valuables either packed up or close at hand in case a wildfire forces them to quickly flee, Muir said.