California wildfires: Two firefighters dead and THOUSANDS of residents flee devastation

Around 3,400 firefighters battled the Carr Fire blaze as it tore across a 48,300 acre area in the Sunshine State’s Shasta-Trinity area on Saturday.

Eight people, including three firefighters, were treated in hospital.

More than 38,000 residents from nearby Redding evacuated their homes as the inferno barrelled towards the town of 90,000.

The monster blaze grew in intensity on Thursday, destroying 500 buildings and reducing the town of Keswick to a smouldering ruin.

High temperatures and low humidity have been blamed for the intensity of the fire, with the scorching weather predicted to stretch into next week.

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CalFire) Director Ken Pimlott said: “This fire is a long way from done,” 

“This fire was whipped up into a whirlwind of activity, uprooting trees, moving vehicles, moving parts of roadways.”

A bulldozer operator and a member of the Redding Fire Department were killed in the blaze.

The flames swelled into a firestorm on Thursday after leaping across the Sacramento River.

Gale-force winds propelled the fire during the night.

Firefighters and police guided residents to safety from their homes.

California has suffered its worst start to the fire season in a decade, with 289,727 acres burned by last Friday, according to the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC).

Governor Jerry Brown has demanded emergency federal assistance to stop an “imminent catastrophe”.

Supplies and water for evacuated residents, horses and cattle is needed in Shasta County.

Wildfires have incinerated around 4.15 million acres in the United States this year, well above the average for the same period over the past 10 years.

The Cranston Fire, about 110 miles  east of Los Angeles, blackened 12,300 acres with the Ferguson Fire near Yosemite charring 46,675 acres.