Neighbors say California fire started at Weed lumber mill
The giant green warehouse known as Shed 17 loomed across the railroad tracks from Debbie Cummins’ Alamo Avenue home since she moved there in 1988. On Friday, she and dozens of her neighbors watched in terror as the building turned into a giant plume of black smoke and flames. … Within minutes, powerful winds blew the fire into Weed’s historically Black neighborhood, Lincoln Heights, just to the north of Cummins’ home. Dozens of homes burned to the foundations. The fire eventually burned more than six square miles. Two women died. … Environmentalists, neighborhood groups and the city itself have battled [Roseburg Forest Products’ sprawling lumber mill] for much of the past two decades over concerns about air pollution and the city’s water supply.