The "Cal Fire" spokesman told WHKP News that as of Tuesday morning, the CAMP fire has burned 117 thousand acres and so far, 42 civilians have died in that fire...and 6,453 homes have been destroyed by that fire...damage is estimated to be in the billions of dollars.    

Those deadly and devastating fires in California are continuing to burn. The large one in Northern California is known as the CAMP fire and that massive fire has a lot of ties to the Hendersonville area. The Sierra Nevada Brewing Company “home” brewery is in Chico, California and is close to the CAMP fire, but luckily is not directly caught up in the fire at this time. That Chico Sierra Nevada Brewery was voluntarily evacuated as a precaution one day late last week, but a spokesman for what’s known as the “Cal Fire Information Office” told WHKP News early Tuesday morning that the Chico Sierra Nevada brewery is no longer evacuated at this time, is now open on a limited basis, and is serving food...but the Mills River Sierra Nevada east coast brewery is doing most of the brewery work during this camp fire situation.

The Cal Fire spokesman told WHKP News that as of Tuesday morning, the CAMP fire has burned 117 thousand acres and so far, 42 civilians have died in that fire...and 6,453 homes have been destroyed by that fire. Three fire fighters have been injured...and thankfully no fire fighters have died in that blaze. Damage is estimated to be in the billions of dollars.

WHKP’s IT Director, Tom Christiansen, has relatives who live near another major California fire in the Malibu area...and Tom’s sister-in-law’s sister’s home was completely destroyed by the fire, she was not hurt but was given 30 minutes to evacuate the home before it was destroyed and her cat was killed by the Malibu fire. Back near Chico and the town that’s called Paradise, a home previously occupied by Tom’s brother was destroyed by that Northern California CAMP fire..

Another wildfire was reported Monday in the Simi Valley area of California.

The good news is...that northern or CAMP fire up near Sierra Nevada in Chico is said to now be 30 per cent contained, some of the highest winds that served to spread the fire have died down, and as WHKP News reported over the weekend, California fire fighters have set November 30th as their “hoped for” full containment date for that huge CAMP fire near Chico.

With employees, family and friends “severely affected” by the raging Camp Fire in northern California, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. has established a relief fund to provide long-term support, contributing $100,000 to jump-start the effort.

Sierra Nevada put out a statement Monday detailing the relief fund and ways to help. Here is the brewery’s message to the public:

“As many of you are aware, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. and our surrounding communities are in the midst of dealing with the still-active Camp Fire. Even though we are all living moment to moment trying to figure out who is safe and if our homes have been spared, the beauty of the human spirit still shines through.

“We have been flooded by offers of support, from a simple ‘I am here’ to generous offerings of financial and physical support. There are many opportunities — both immediate and long-term — to help those affected.

“For immediate support, there are many nonprofit and government agencies whose sole purpose is to help those experiencing disaster. Rather than duplicate those efforts, we will instead focus on connecting those groups with people who need help.

“For long-term support, we have set up a Sierra Nevada Camp Fire Relief Fund, supported through the Golden Valley Bank Community Foundation. The brewery is seeding this fund with an initial $100,000 to get started.

“Once the fire is out, we will distribute all donated money to partner organizations that are dedicated to rebuilding and supporting the communities that have been affected.

“If you would like to support this long-term effort, you can follow this link, select ‘Sierra Nevada Brewery,’ and follow the instructions thereafter. Checks can be made payable to “GVBCF-Sierra Nevada” and either dropped off at Golden Valley Bank or mailed to 190 Cohasset Road, Chico, CA 95926.

“We appreciate the tremendous amount of support and compassion shown from folks around the world. With the brave men and women risking their lives fighting this fire and the outpouring of support from communities near and far, we know we are on a path to healing and rebuilding.

“Thank you, the Grossman family, Ken, Sierra and Brian.”

The brewery, which had closed Friday as the fire raged about 15 miles away, reopened its pub Monday and also offered free meals to firefighters and those displaced by the fire.

Find Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. on Facebook at

 

By Larry Freeman   WHKP