Karen Jane Savage, 44, Struck by Fire Truck Near Blaze
Updated: Thursday, October 21, 1999 - 4 PM
JENNIFER COLEMAN
Associated Press Writer
BELLA VISTA, Calif. (AP) -- Fires burned out of control across thousands of acres of brush and grass on Sunday in Northern California, leaving one firefighter dead and scores of homes destroyed. Thousands of people have been forced to evacuate.
Photo by Brad Garrison/Courtesy The Record Searchlight
A Junction City, Calif. firefighter is comforted by colleagues after his girlfriend, firefighter Karen Jane Savage, was run over and killed by a fire truck.
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Karen Jane Savage, 44, a volunteer firefighter from Junction City, Calif., died October 16, 1999 after she was hit by a fire truck near the blaze, said Rose Wyckoff of the California Department of Forestry.
Gov. Gray Davis expressed condolences in a statement Saturday night.
``Sharon and I are deeply saddened,'' the statement said. ``Her selfless and heroic response to the call to the fire line is indeed a profile in courage. Without volunteers like Karen, the ravenous appetite of wildfires in California, like the Jones fire, would devour many more homes and endanger many more lives than have been lost thus far.''
Savage left three daughters.
Winds moderated in the afternoon and some of those forced on Saturday to flee a 25,900-acre fire in Shasta County were allowed to return to see if they still had homes. More than 100 structures were destroyed.
AP World Wide Photos/Rich Pedroncelli
California Department of Forestry firefighter Mario Torres watches as flames from a backfire he set burns near Bella Vista, Calif., Sunday, Oct. 17, 1999. The back fire was set to help control a 25,000 acre wildfire that started early Saturday morning. Dozens of homes were destroyed by the blaze that officals list as 50 percent contained, with full containment expected Monday night. One fire fighter was killed when struck by a fire engine
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``There's people calling who I've known for 20 years, calling to see if their houses are okay,'' said volunteer Fire Capt. Jan Gross. ``I don't have the heart to tell them they've lost it.''
The fire was 20 percent contained Sunday, and full containment was expected by late Monday, Wyckoff said. Some 2,000 people were fighting the blaze.
Dozens of homes were destroyed Saturday by the fast-moving fire, which began at 4:15 a.m., fanned by winds gusting to 25 mph. The loss by Sunday was estimated at $5 million.
Exact numbers of homes destroyed would likely not be available until the flames were extinguished, fire officials said.
A fire about 50 miles northwest of Sacramento that started Saturday had burned more than 42,000 acres by Sunday morning. One home was lost, and some 430 firefighters, along with a dozen bulldozers, five helicopters and six air tankers, were fighting to keep the flames away from other homes in a vacation area near Lake Berryessa.
In Yuba County, about 50 miles north of Sacramento, a fire charred 5,500 acres and threatened about 500 structures in the Dobbins and Challenge areas, which were evacuated Sunday.
In Trinity County, a fire that began two months ago has so far burned 111,000 acres.
Along the central coast, meanwhile, two fires in the Los Padres National Forest continued to burn after scorching more than 85,000 acres.
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