| | A flat tire started the deadly Carr Fire and days of devastation in California
By Faith Karimi and Cheri Mossburg, CNN
Updated 6:04 AM ET, Sun August 5, 2018
(CNN)It happens countless times on roads across America: a vehicle gets a flat tire, usually just a temporary inconvenience.
But on one road near Redding, California, when a tire failed last month on a trailer and its rim scraped the asphalt, the result was catastrophic for an entire region.
The sparks that shot out July 23 from that minor incident, California fire officials said, ignited what is now the sixth-most destructive wildfire in state history.
The Carr Fire blazed a fiery path along Highway 299, lighting up mile after mile of dry brush as it crept up on residential areas.
The blaze turned everything it touched into ash, mangled metal and black embers, and is still burning nearly two weeks later. It's killed six people, scorched more than 145,000 acres and is the deadliest of 17 blazes racing through the state.
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California has already spent a quarter of its firefighting budget for the year just in July.
Firefighters are struggling to stop the blazes, with the Carr Fire 41% contained by Saturday night.
Fire officials have issued a grim prediction, warning that massive blazes will cost the state billions of dollars over the next decade.
"What we're seeing in California right now is more destructive, larger fires burning at rates that we have historically never seen," Cal Fire spokesman Jonathan Cox said.
more with photos and graphics at cnn.com |
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