More mandatory evacuations as Fawn Fire grows, displacing thousands near Redding

The Fawn Fire destroyed homes Thursday and continues to displace thousands of residents in and near Redding.

The blaze now covers 5,850 acres with 10% containment, Cal Fire said in a Friday morning incident update. It has destroyed at least 25 structures, some of them homes. Damage assessment is ongoing.

The Shasta County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday evening that approximately 4,000 residents had been evacuated with 30,000 “affected,” including those under evacuation warnings. Cal Fire said more than 9,000 structures were considered threatened as of Friday morning.

The fire started Wednesday afternoon along Fawndale and Radcliff roads, about 5 miles northeast of the city of Shasta Lake and 12 miles north of Redding. It exploded in size Thursday, from 150 acres to 5,500 acres in 12 hours, according to Cal Fire updates.

Sheriff’s officials and the Redding Police Department issued and expanded numerous mandatory evacuation orders Thursday as the blaze swelled out of control, swept by gusty winds.

Authorities before noon Friday expanded mandatory evacuations to include all roads north of Old Oregon Trail and east of Interstate 5, up through Shasta Lake.

Existing orders from Thursday included the Tierra Oaks subdivision in the northeast corner of Redding.

Warnings are in place along the west side of I-5, and north of Highway 299 from the I-5 junction to Bella Vista.

An evacuation shelter has been established at First Church of the Nazarene in Redding. Shasta College, in the evacuation warning zone, closed its campus Thursday.

Cal Fire in its Friday morning report said wind conditions were favorable overnight for the 950 firefighters assigned to the Fawn Fire. The agency reminded that those in areas under evacuation warnings should be ready to leave at a moment’s notice.

Fire ruled arson, Bay Area woman arrested

Cal Fire has labeled the Fawn Fire human-caused, and Cal Fire law enforcement arrested a woman on suspicion of arson in connection with the fire.

The Fawn Fire started in a “deep and remote canyon” on property accessed through nearby quarries, Cal Fire said in a news release announcing the arrest. Quarry employees reported seeing a woman trespassing and “acting irrationally.” Around 8 p.m., a woman emerged from brush near the fire line and told firefighters she needed medical treatment.

The woman, identified as 30-year-old Alexandra Andreevna Souverneva of Palo Alto, was interviewed by Cal Fire investigators and arrested on suspicion of arson.

Cal Fire said it would recommend that the Shasta County District Attorney’s Office charge Souverneva with wildland arson, a charge that would include an enhancement due to California’s current state of emergency for wildfire danger.

A LinkedIn profile for Souverneva — which displays her current title as “shaman” — says she received a bachelor’s degree from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, also known as Caltech, considered by many to be the nation’s most prestigious STEM university.

Her profile also lists her as a graduate student at State University of New York’s College of Environmental Science and Forestry.

Commencement programs available online show Souverneva graduated from Caltech with bachelor’s degrees in chemistry and biology in 2012, and a SUNY webpage shows Souverneva as having contributed to research on algal blooms.