Zogg Fire update: Fourth death announced as Shasta County wildfire continues to grow
A fourth person has died as the result of the Zogg Fire burning in a rural area of Shasta County, authorities confirmed Wednesday.
Shasta County Sheriff Eric Magrini said during a Wednesday morning news conference that a man was airlifted to UC Davis Medical Center’s burn unit on Sunday but succumbed to his injuries on Tuesday night. Magrini did not identify the man, but said he suffered significant burns.
“It’s unfortunate, my condolences go out to a fourth death that we’ve had as a result of this,” Magrini said. “This was an individual who was evacuated with significant burns on the day of the origin of this fire. ... So again, our condolences go out to that family.”
The fire, already blamed in three deaths, was at 55,046 acres with 9% containment, Cal Fire said Wednesday evening. More than 1,300 firefighting personnel were battling the blaze. Cal Fire officials said an inversion layer of smoke limited aircraft missions Wednesday.
Cal Fire officials said the fire, which started Sunday, grew by about 2,000 acres from the day before and had blackened about 81.2 square miles. But, with calmer conditions, there was significantly less growth compared to the previous 24-hour span when the blaze grew by 50% from 31,000 acres.
The fire continues to burn largely unchecked amid northerly winds and hot conditions.
Magrini said evacuations remain in place for many areas that were forced to flee Sunday and into Monday as the fire grew exponentially amid strong winds. The National Weather Service said gusts in the area were as high as 46 mph Sunday morning. On Wednesday, winds were forecast to gust in the fire area, which is about 10 miles southwest of Redding, to between 10 and 15 mph.
Magrini also alluded to a new threat for evacuated residents of areas such as Platina — the August Complex, the state’s largest fire in recorded history, threatened to encroach north into Shasta County from Trinity County.
He said the fire threat, even for areas already burned through, remains and he urged homeowners wanting to inspect damage to be patient.
“(The area) still has not been made safe,” he said. “Our deputies are still in patrolling ... to give an example, last night one of our patrol cars that was patrol was struck by a falling tree. It was a total loss to the car. Both deputies, I’m happy to report, were uninjured.
“But that is the severity and the importance of why we have these evacuated areas even through the fire’s burned through.”
More than 1,200 residents were evacuated, and it was possible the evacuations would expand, said Magrini, adding that about 200 of the evacuees have been placed in hotels.
Already 147 buildings have been destroyed and another 1,538 are threatened, the agency said. At a late Monday news briefing, Cal Fire officials said the fire was moving south through heavy grasslands in an area that burned in the 2018 Carr Fire.
The cause of the fire remained under investigation.
This story was originally published September 30, 2020 at 12:12 PM with the headline "Zogg Fire update: Fourth death announced as Shasta County wildfire continues to grow."
