Update: 3 killed in West Zone fire didn’t evacuate Berry Creek due to ‘erroneous’ info
The deadly North Complex of wildfires continues to burn in Northern California, but fire officials said gusty winds that were forecast to impact the fire zone Monday ultimately did not develop, averting a potential flare-up.
Still, authorities have continued to uncover the full extent of the fire’s destruction and devastation, especially in the small Butte County town of Berry Creek, after the blaze’s furious sprint last week into communities north of Lake Oroville.
The complex’s West Zone — formerly referred to as the Bear Fire — has killed at least 15 people, the Butte County Sheriff’s Office said this week, increasing the official death toll by one on Monday and naming four more of the victims. As of Thursday evening, 13 of the victims have now been formally identified by Butte coroner’s officials, most of them residents of Berry Creek.
Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said in a Monday news conference that a pair of victims, both identified, died after reportedly deciding not to evacuate despite the mandatory order, having received inaccurate information that the fire was mostly contained. On Thursday, Honea announced a third victim who resided with those two had been positively identified.
Philip Rubel, 68; Millicent Catarncuic, 77; and Suzan Zurz, 76 all lived together and had packed up their belongings to escape the West Zone wildfire but changed their minds and decided not to evacuate after receiving “erroneous” information that the wildfire was 51% contained, Honea said based on family members’ accounts. Their bodies were found near their destroyed home; Rubel was found in a burned Toyota pickup and Catarancuic in a nearby embankment, Honea said Monday, and Zurz was located in the same area.
The trio may have received the 51% containment figure from an outdated U.S. Forest Service incident update, which came before the then-Bear Fire rapidly intensified.
The morning of Sept. 8, the Forest Service indeed reported containment on the entire North Complex of wildfires at 51%. A few hours later, around 10 a.m., the blaze jumped the middle fork of the Feather River, as authorities including the Forest Service reported in continuous midday updates posted online. By that evening, the Forest Service reported containment at 37%.
Containment percentages don’t have any bearing on evacuation orders. That’s a determination jointly made by fire officials and emergency authorities, based on actual fire activity and where it is threatening structures; and that threat, in general, can continue for any wildfire burning near structures until it is 100% contained. In extreme fire weather conditions, as happened last week as winds in the area gusted in excess of 50 mph, it isn’t unusual for wildfires to break out of their existing containment lines, resulting in containment percentage decreasing.
The Butte County Sheriff’s Office issued an urgent, mandatory evacuation order for Berry Creek around 3:30 p.m. Sept. 8. The order went out through the county’s “CodeRED” emergency alert system — which sends evacuation information through phone calls, text messages and emails — and was posted by the Sheriff’s Office to social media.
Fire officials and sheriff’s deputies frantically attempted to evacuate those who still remained in Berry Creek as of late Tuesday night, going door-to-door until the blaze started to rip through the town around midnight.
At 15 fatalities, the West Zone is tied for the fifth-deadliest wildfire in California history, according to Cal Fire records. By acreage, it’s currently the eighth-largest wildfire in recorded state history.
The North Complex started Aug. 17 at Plumas National Forest by lightning strikes as a powerful thunderstorm passed through Northern California. The cluster of fires burned for weeks, mostly within containment lines. Then, extreme gusts led the southwest corner of the complex to expand at intense speed into Butte County, where a flurry of evacuation orders and warnings were issued Sept. 8 into the early morning hours of last Wednesday after it jumped the river.
Cal Fire said in a Tuesday morning incident report that predicted southwest gusts and otherwise critical fire weather “did not materialize as predicted” Monday, “nor will it over the next two days.” A more moderate increase in sustained winds coming in from the west helped clear some of the smoke layer that had hovered directly over the North Complex, according to Cal Fire.
“Because of this, aircraft will have the visibility to be able to fly over the fire,” Monday evening’s incident update continues, “but the clearing of the smoke will have a negative effect on the fire causing the fire activity to increase.”
The wildfire almost completely leveled the town of Berry Creek, which had a population of about 1,200. Cal Fire said as of Tuesday evening the West Zone has destroyed nearly 800 structures, 489 of them homes, but the damage survey is not yet complete. The wildfire has destroyed 46 commercial buildings and 247 outbuildings or sheds.
The North Complex as a whole was reported at 273,335 acres (about 427 square miles) and was 34% contained as of Tuesday evening, according to Cal Fire. The wildfire in the West Zone had burned 77,329 acres and was 25% contained.
Cal Fire is the lead agency managing the West Zone, while the other zones of the fire are being handled by the Forest Service. In total, about 3,600 firefighters are assigned to the complex, with nearly 2,200 on the West Zone.
As of Tuesday morning, mandatory evacuation warnings remain in place throughout parts of Butte, Plumas and Yuba counties. The communities of Berry Creek, Brush Creek, Big Bend, Feather Falls and Cherokee are all under mandatory orders in Butte County, as are La Porte and Bucks Lake in Plumas. Yuba County’s evacuation zones 1, 2, 3C and 7, located along the county lines with Butte and Plumas, are also under mandatory evacuations.
An evacuation order for the area of Highway 162 between Forbestown Road and Bidwell Bar Bridge was reduced to a warning as of 8 a.m. Tuesday, but Highway 162 remains closed north of Bidwell Bar Bridge due to fire activity.
Numerous other voluntary evacuation warnings are in place, as well as road closures. Nearly the entire city of Oroville, the seat of Butte County with more than 20,000 residents, had been under an evacuation warning from last Wednesday until Saturday evening.
13 victims identified, including 11 from Berry Creek
Thirteen of 15 victims in the West Zone wildfire have been named by sheriff-coroner’s officials as of Thursday evening.
Along with Zurz, Rubel and Catarancuic, the Sheriff’s Office has named eight other victims from Berry Creek: Josiah Williams, 16; Khawar Bhatti, 58; John Butler, 79; Sandra Butler, 75; Jorge Hernandez-Juarez, 26; Paul Winer, 68; Kin Lee, 64; and Mark Delagardie, 61.
Also identified were two residents of Feather Falls: Randy Harrell, 67, and Jacob Albright, 74.
A relative called authorities last Wednesday to report the Butlers were missing. Honea said the Butlers told family they were going seek refuge from the fire at a pond near their home. Their bodies were found near their home.
Last Wednesday, a relative called authorities to report that Hernandez-Juarez was missing since the start of the fire. Honea said detectives found his body at a Berry Creek property.
The recovered bodies of two other victims have not been positively identified.
This story was originally published September 15, 2020 at 9:36 AM with the headline "Update: 3 killed in West Zone fire didn’t evacuate Berry Creek due to ‘erroneous’ info."
