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Human-Caused Delta Fire Triples In Size North Of Redding, Shuts Down 5 Freeway

REDDING, Calif. (CBS Sacramento/AP) — An explosive wildfire that closed down a major Northern California freeway nearly tripled in size overnight Wednesday, just weeks after the nearby Mendocino Complex Fire that left neighborhoods in ruins and killed eight people, officials said.

Delta Fire
Fire surrounds an intersection during the Delta Fire in near Delta, Calif., on September 6, 2018. (JOSH EDELSON/AFP/Getty Images)

The fire that erupted Wednesday afternoon north of the town of Lakehead and devoured timber and brush on both sides of Interstate 5 near the Oregon state line had expanded to 23 square miles (15,294 acres) Thursday, prompting mandatory evacuations, the U.S. Forest Service said in a statement. That's up from 8 square miles on Wednesday. There was no containment.

"The Delta Fire continued to grow aggressively throughout the evening and overnight with a large flaming front and flame lengths estimated at 300 feet high," the U.S. Forest Service said in a news release Thursday morning.

Authorities did not say how many people were affected by the evacuation order, but the fire is in a rural area with scattered homes.

The blaze was human-caused, fire officials said, but they didn't indicate whether it was arson or accident.

Truckers abandoned their vehicles Wednesday as flames roared up hillsides. In a video, a passenger in a vehicle screams: "Oh my God, I want to go!" as trees burst into flames and sheets of fire roiled on the side of the roadway.

About 17 big-rigs were abandoned and at least four caught fire, Lt. Cmdr. Kyle Foster of the California Highway Patrol's Mount Shasta office told the Los Angeles Times.

Delta Fire
Smoke, fire and the Sacramento River fill a valley as the Delta Fire rages into the night near Delta, California on September 6, 2018. (JOSH EDELSON/AFP/Getty Images)

U.S. Forest Service workers helped the driver of one flaming truck to safety and other truckers, firefighters and others aided other drivers, he said.

"There's vehicles scattered all over," Brandon Vaccaro with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection told the Redding Record Searchlight. "Whatever occurred here was probably pretty ugly for a while."

About 45 miles of the I-5 were closed in both directions, said Chris Losi, a spokesman for the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. The road remained closed through Wednesday night and there was no immediate word on when the lanes would reopen.

The blaze also delayed Amtrak's Coast Starlight train service between Sacramento and Oregon.

Rural homes and cabins in and around the forest were under evacuation orders, from the community Lakehead north to the Siskiyou County line, Losi said.

"It isn't a lot of people," he said.

Delta Fire
A firefighter sprays down a burned big rig truck that was abandoned along Interstate 5 as the Delta Fire tore through the region in Delta, California on September 5, 2018. (JOSH EDELSON/AFP/Getty Images)

The fire was showing "critical" behavior – burning fiercely and moving rapidly – but was still far away from any large towns, he added.

The city of Dunsmuir, with about 1,500 people, was about 15 miles from the fire. Residents were issued an evacuation warning, urging them to be prepared to leave if the fire threatened.

The Mendocino Complex – which was made up of two fires – burned some 1,100 homes in and around the Redding area and killed eight people last month. It was only fully contained last week. It was largest fire in California state history, burning more than 459,100 acres.

(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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