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50 structures burned, hundreds more damaged and threatened in Mill Fire By Dave Smigelski Updated: Sep 03, 2022 08:38 PM A A Properties destroyed by the Mill Fire are seen in Weed, Calif., Saturday. [Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle via AP] The Mill Fire that started Friday in Weed and raced cross-country to the community of Lake Shastina in Siskiyou County, California, was up to 4,254 acres Saturday night with 25% containment. The Mountain Fire, burning a few miles away near the community of Gazelle, was reported at 4,812 acres and 5% containment Saturday evening. No cause has been given for either fire. Three people have been injured, 50 structures have been destroyed and “132 structures have been affected” in the Mill Fire, according to Cal Fire. More than 1,000 people have been evacuated and 411 structures remain threatened. “Damage inspection teams will begin ground-truthing damaged and destroyed structures (Sunday),” Cal Fire said. “Numbers will be reported after they have been verified.” No structures have been destroyed and no injuries have been reported on the Mountain Fire, which is burning in heavy timber “on steep, broken terrain with short-duration crown runs and spotting.” The Mill Fire, which started shortly before 1 p.m. Friday in the area of Roseburg Timber Products, is burning through dry grass, brush and residential areas. The fire footprint contains rolling terrain with a mixture of bone dry natural areas filled sagebrush and juniper, interspersed with cattle ranches, alfalfa fields, rural homesteads, housing developments and a golf course. On Saturday morning, Lake Shastina Fire Department Chief Steven Pappas said the fire had burned well into the Lake Shastina housing district “with numerous structures lost.” “We do not have an exact number of homes that were lost at this time nor can I provide you with specific streets that have been impacted,” Pappas said. “The fire came into the district from the south end and has worked its way north. It still poses a significant risk to the homes that remain standing in the entire Lake Shastina community, and there is active fire still burning deep into our community.” On the Mountain Fire, 332 people have been evacuated and 690 structures are threatened, Cal Fire reported. The incident began in the area of Gazelle-Callahan Road, nine miles southwest of the town of Gazelle. Gazelle is 11 miles northwest of Weed. A community meeting about the Mill and Mountain fires will held at 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 4, at Big Springs Elementary School, 7405 Highway A-12, Montague. Cal Fire officials will be on hand to provide information and answer questions about the fires, according to a post Saturday evening from Cal Fire Siskiyou Unit. The meeting will be livestreamed at www.facebook.com/CALFIRESKU on the Cal Fire Siskiyou Unit Facebook page , technology permitting, the post said. At 4 p.m. Saturday, Cal Fire Incident Management Team 5 assumed command of both fires. On Saturday 790 people were fighting the Mountain Fire with 18 hand crews, 18 helicopters, 32 engines, 41 dozers, 25 water tenders, and more resources are arriving. The Mill Fire had had 843 personnel Saturday, with 22 hand crews, 4 helicopters, 100 engines, 11 dozers and 38 water tenders. An evacuation center was set up at the Karuk Tribal Wellness Center, 1403 Kahtishraam, Yreka, according to Briana Haberman, public information officer for Siskiyou County Office of Emergency Services. Reach Mail Tribune Editor-in-Chief David Smigelski at 541-776-4484 or [email protected].