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View a map of the Camp Fire evacuation zones near Paradise.

PARADISE — Tens of thousands of residents racing to escape a deadly wildfire in Butte County on Thursday jammed roads from Paradise to Chico, according to authorities, as smoke from the blaze choked Bay Area skies.

Some evacuees abandoned their vehicles while trying to flee through an inferno that had burned 20,000 acres and was 20 percent contained by about 7 p.m., according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Acting Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency as the fire claimed multiple lives, injured several others and, according to Capt. Scott McLean, “pretty much” destroyed Paradise.

2 dozen ambulances evacuating folks from Paradise #Campfire pic.twitter.com/Vv3z1JUdOR — Karl Mondon (@karlmondon) November 9, 2018

“That is the worst fire I have ever seen in my life,” said Caroline Bolin in an interview at the Butte County Fairgrounds in Gridley, which is being used as an evacuation center.

“I’ve never been in that thick of a fire,” she continued. “I’m very scared. I never felt like that before in my life. But I feel better now that I’m here. Please, people, when it says to get out, get out. They mean it.”

Smoke from the blaze, dubbed the Camp Fire, drifted into the Bay Area, leading the Bay Area Air Quality Management District to issue a Spare the Air Alert through Friday.

“We’re asking people to limit their time outdoors,” said agency spokesman Walter Wallace. “Even if you’re healthy, you’re going to be impacted.”

The air-quality monitoring site AirNow.gov reported shortly before 5 p.m. that air quality had reached “unhealthy” levels in Richmond, Oakland, Napa, and Concord, among other cities. The site is administered by the Environmental Protection Agency.

The fire ignited in the Feather River Canyon about 6:30 a.m. Thursday and scorched 5,000 acres in the first 3½ hours, according to Cal Fire.

“The blaze is being driven by fairly strong winds,” said Cal Fire spokesman Rick Carhart. “It’s really dry and we have low humidity — and unfortunately those are great conditions for a fire to spread.”

Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said the fire was causing a “very dangerous and very serious situation.” Some 27,000 people in the city of Paradise have been ordered to evacuate.

“We’re doing everything we can to get people out of the affected areas,” Honea said.

He confirmed reports that evacuees had to abandon their vehicles as they fled the scene.

“We’re getting them on other vehicles with room. We’re working very hard to get people out. The message I want to get out is if you can evacuate, you need to evacuate,” Honea said.

Evacuation orders have also been issued for East Chico, Magalia, Concow, Yankee Hill and upper Butte Creek Canyon. The community of Forest Ranch is under an evacuation warning.

Cal Fire-Butte County Chief Darren Read said he had no estimate when evacuees would be able to return.

As many as 50,000 residents have been evacuated, but the Butte County Sheriff’s Office has received hundreds of calls requesting deputies to perform welfare checks on unaccounted people in the fire zone.

The Chico Enterprise-Record described “a chaotic scene as people tried to leave” Paradise, with reports of structures on fire. Two firefighters and multiple civilians were taken to hospitals with injuries, and a pregnant woman went into labor while stuck in traffic.

Some of the evacuees were beginning to set up camp in the newspaper’s parking lot.

Resident Gina Oviedo said there was fire everywhere as she got out of the town, and people abandoned their vehicles to flee the blaze, holding babies and pets as they escaped.

Butte County Supervisor Doug Teeter was on a bulldozer that cleared a path to the Adventist Health Feather River Hospital in Paradise. He arrived to find patients were out in the front of the emergency room, where the roof had caught fire. All patients were evacuated, according to hospital spokeswoman Jill Kinney.

According to PG&E spokesman Paul Moreno, 32,000 customers are without power as a result of the fire in Butte and Plumas counties, which includes those in the Paradise, Pulga and Concow areas. No public safety power shut off has been implemented.

Butte College provided an update on its website indicating the main campus in Oroville will be closed through Friday for “precautionary measures” and added the campus is not threatened.

The Camp Fire is one of several blazes that have ignited around the state amid dry and gusty conditions. As of Thursday night, the Hill Fire in Ventura County had burned 10,000 acres and the Nurse Fire in Solano County had burned 2,500 acres. “Extreme fire danger conditions” spurred the National Weather Service in Monterey to issue a red flag warning for elevations above 1,000 feet in the Santa Cruz Mountains as well as the North Bay and East Bay hills through at least Friday morning.

Back in Butte County, evacuees at the Neighborhood Church in Chico gathered to watch a local TV news report on the Camp Fire. Richard Wiles, 29, was among them.

Wiles was up early on Thursday morning and started seeing the smoke around 7 a.m. near his home in Paradise.

He called a friend and went to pick her up, but as he returned to his home to get his dog and cats, authorities started blocking off roads. He was able to get through to pick up his animals, but with precious little time, he couldn’t get anything else from the home he was renting.

Wiles thinks both that home and another he owns nearby burned. He was mostly relieved to have his pets, however.

It took three hours to get out of town, he said.

“Cars were going the same way but blocking both lanes, and Harley (motorcycles) were riding on the sidewalks trying to get out,” Wiles said.

He said telephone poles were sparking, and there was a sense of doom.

“Have you seen the film Silent Hill?” Wiles asked. “It’s about a whole town that burns.”

This, he said, felt like that. “It was like the whole town was on fire.”

Mary Corey, 72, was still at her home on Friendly Lane in Paradise about 1 p.m. on Thursday when she started hearing popping sounds.

She had known there was a fire, but didn’t realize how close it was until she looked outside and saw flames just a few houses down. Those popping sounds had been houses exploding, she said.

Her landlord was nearby and offered to drive her to safety. But with just a few moments to get out, she forgot to grab important things — her medicine, her phone charger — as well as items that meant a lot to her, like her Bible.

“I just panicked,” Corey said.

She was at the church later that night, feeling stressed and overwhelmed. She wasn’t sure what the future will hold. Her rental home was government subsidized — Section 8 — and she’s not sure how she will secure another one nearby. She said she thinks her home burned, and her cat ran away, scared off by the chaos, as she was trying to leave.

My grandpa was stuck at Skyway Mobile Home Park in Paradise when the evacuations began – my mom could not get to him, he cannot drive and does not have a cell phone. His name is Michael Doyle. He may be on foot, please tell him to call his daughter or grand-daughter #campfire — Spent Gladiator (@Belle_Poubelle) November 8, 2018

Staff photographer Ray Chavez, the Associated Press and the Chico Enterprise-Record contributed to this report.