Celebrity chef Guy Fieri feeds hundreds of California wildfire evacuees
REDDING, California -- The Carr Fire, burning near the Northern California city of Redding, has forced 14,000 people to evacuate, killed six people and destroyed more than 880 homes.
It is just one of 17 wildfires burning across the state, which has stretched resources thin.
That's why over the weekend, celebrity chef and Food Network host Guy Fieri drove from the Napa Valley to Redding to work with the Salvation Army to help feed the evacuees.
"It is unbelievable to see what folks are going through, but also how great this community is," Fieri said. "It is great to see how all these folks have come together with the Salvation Army. We are in tough times in the world, with all the things going on, and boy, you take a moment like this, and you really see what America's made of, a lot of great people coming together."
Two fires straddling Mendocino and Lake counties had burned seven homes along 116 square miles of rural land. Fire crews were able to slow the spread of one of the blazes into populated areas and instead the fire pushed into the Mendocino National Forest.
"My team and I got involved," Fieri said. "My son and I, and his buddies, and a bunch of mine, we loaded up our caravan from wine country and drove four hours up here."
The Carr Fire has become the ninth most destructive wildfire in California history, said Scott McLean, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
"I have probably got 20 volunteers, right now we are standing in a parking lot of Shasta College, and we have a makeshift kitchen set up with one of my trailers and a bunch of stoves," Fieri said. "We just did lunch for 750, and we are getting ready to do dinner for that same group right now, trying to keep the menu interesting."
In Lake County, evacuation orders were in effect for the 4,700-resident town of Lakeport along with some smaller communities and a section of the national forest. In all, some 15,000 people have been warned to flee, fire officials said.
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