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\"Really erratic winds from the start of the incident all the way up until now,\" Kelsey Lofdah, a firefighter for the U.S. Forest Service, told San Francisco ABC station KGO of challenging firefighting conditions. \"Pretty extreme fire behavior throughout the entire shift.\"

The Yreka Police Department issued evacuation orders for a neighborhood in the western part of the town \"due to its proximity to the fire\" about 12 miles away.

\"PHOTO:
Mike Chapman/Record Searchlight via USA Today Network
PHOTO: A burned-up pickup sits on a property off Highway 96 in Klamath River, on July 31, 2022. The McKinney Fire is burning in western Siskiyou Count, Calif.McKinney Fire
>

\"Please leave IMMEDIATELY,\" the police department wrote in the evacuation order.

The police department also issued evacuation warnings to residents in all areas of the community west of Interstate 5.

The cause of the fire is under investigation and emergency management officials are assessing the damage.

Californian Gov. Gavin Newsom proclaimed a state of emergency on Saturday for Siskiyou County due to the effects of the McKinney Fire. A state of emergency frees up more state resources to be used in battling the blaze, including dispatching more firefighters and equipment to the scene.

The McKinney Fire surpassed the Oak Fire in Mariposa County near Yosemite as the largest wildfire in the state this year, according to Cal Fire. The Oak Fire, which started on July 22, was 72% contained on Monday after burning 19,244 acres and destroying 182 structures, including more than 100 homes, officials said.

ABC's Alex Stone reports:

ABC News' Jennifer Watts, Izzy Alvarez, Jenna Harrison and Teddy Grant contributed to this report.

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