McKinney Fire update: Yreka protected by bulldozer lines as wildfire burns without containment

The McKinney Fire continued burning without any containment late Monday, although officials said weather conditions turned more favorable and firefighters were able to build a buffer around the threatened city of Yreka.

The largest wildfire of the season in California was officially pegged at 55,493 acres Monday evening, although fire growth had been fairly moderate in the past day or so.

“We picked up quite a bit of precipitation, especially on the east side of the fire,” Heather McRae, operations section chief with the firefighting command, said at a community meeting Monday night in Yreka. “The weather has given us a great opportunity” to make progress on the fire, she added.

Also, she said firefighting crews “completed a dozer line around Yreka,” the city of 7,500 that’s been in the fire’s path since it erupted in the Klamath National Forest on Friday. Officials said more than 50 bulldozers have been sent to fight the fire. Many of them worked clearing a fire break on the ridge that runs above the Siskiyou County seat.

“We’ve got the weather,” said Todd Mack, a U.S. Forest Service official who’s helping oversee the firefight. “We’ve got the horsepower. And we’re getting after it.”

The cause of the fire remains unknown, although the National Forest Service has ruled out the lightning that struck the area over the past 24 hours and lit smaller fires.

She said bulldozer crews were also carving out firebreaks along Humbug Creek, a few miles west of Yreka, and along the northern edge of the fire. “That work is going well,” she said.

About 1,700 firefighters and 200 fire engines were on the scene Monday night, and “we’re getting more in as we speak,” said Darryl Laws, a unified incident commander.

Laws said fire officials thought they could hold the fire to a few hundred acres when it ignited. But a series of thunderstorms caused the fire to explode to 18,000 acres within hours. “Mother Nature wasn’t very kind to us when this incident started,” he said.

Containment was still officially at 0% as of Monday evening, and fire officials warned that hard days are looming. Roughly the western half of the city of Yreka has been evacuated, said Mayor Duane Kegg, who’s among the evacuees.

“Firefighters are facing some tough conditions,” said Phil Anzo, the Siskiyou unit chief at Cal Fire, which is working with the Forest Service. “There is a lot of work to do ahead of us.”

Officials were chastened by the announcement earlier Monday that two dead bodies were discovered in a vehicle west of the community of Klamath River. Siskiyou Sheriff Jeremiah LaRue said officials still haven’t identified the victims.

“It’s a loss that’s just unimaginable to us, and it’s breaking my heart,” said Rachel Smith, the Klamath National Forest supervisor.