Photo by Caltrans Roadside Maintenance Project Engineer Scott Gregor 
By Erin Gallup von Tersch
Headquarters Public Information Officer
Redding Caltrans workers said the heat was on Thursday, July 26.
The Carr Fire started July 23. On July 26, Caltrans Redding-area Public Information Officer Lupita Franco rode with California Highway Patrol partners to get close to the blaze – and she saw the fire jump State Route 299.
"It was coming toward Old Shasta, toward Redding," she said.
She was alarmed.
After the ride with CHP, she went to the Caltrans District 2 office to download the pictures she took to put on Caltrans' social media sites, but at 7 p.m., the power went out. As she went to leave the office on Riverside Drive, she said the traffic lights were not working and the whole horizon was filled with smoke.
"When I went outside, there was a line of older couples driving recreation vehicles with panic and tears in their eyes," Franco said."I could feel the air getting hotter. At 7:45 p.m. the Fire Marshal that was doing traffic control said we had 20 minutes to leave the area."
Caltrans District 2 Maintenance Manager Roger Lucas was also working that night, moving the road closures farther and farther back.
"We had gridlock in downtown Redding," he said."When we got to Buenaventura Blvd., I thought, I don't think we're going to have to go any further into Redding."
Caltrans Roadside Maintenance Project Engineer Scott Gregory said he saw the fire travel one mile, jump the Sacramento River and cross a fire line in 15 minutes. Once it did all that, he and his neighbors drove out of Redding's Land Park Subdivision, where they lived.
"We drove onto the northern part of Buenaventura and we were in traffic," Gregory said."There's only one paved road out of my neighborhood. Thankfully the police were there helping move traffic and it was moving."
He is among the dozen Caltrans employees who lost their homes to fires this summer. One hundred twenty-six were evacuated as of Aug. 17.
The California Transportation Foundation has set up an account to benefit the workers who lost their homes and possessions due to wildfires.
Some of those evacuated employees continued to report to work, helping their communities recover from the fires impact.