OROVILLE — Thousands of beleaguered Butte County residents bolted from their homes Tuesday as gusty, shifting winds fanned flames from a stubborn conflagration that has left the rural county besieged for weeks.
Officials said 50 structures had been destroyed in the small communities of Concow and Camelot by Tuesday night, although they could not say how many were homes.
But many evacuated residents feared the worst. Some presumed their homes had been swallowed by one of 41 fires that have marched across 47,000 acres of parched wildlands since June 21.
By late Tuesday, flames and thick smoke were sweeping up the West Branch of the Feather River toward Magalia, where more evacuations were under way.
In the Tuesday morning darkness, authorities went door to door to rouse 1,000 people from 300 homes in the town of Concow, about five miles east of Paradise.
Read the full story at sacbee.com.
