Patients Rescued From Burning Hospital In Butte County

PARADISE, Butte County (CBS SF) -- Officials are describing a harrowing effort to rescue patients from a burning hospital in a Northern California town ravaged by wildfire.

The Camp Fire was burning at least 18,000 acres Thursday in Butte County near Chico, fanned by red flag conditions of high wind and low humidity.

Butte County Supervisor Doug Teeter said he was on a bulldozer that pushed cars out of the way Thursday to get to the Adventist Health Feather River Hospital in the town of Paradise. When he arrived there, patients were out in the front of the emergency room, where the roof had caught fire.

He said sheriff's deputies helped patients evacuate. Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said some people at the hospital were trapped in a tunnel.

Hospital spokeswoman Jill Kinney said all patients were evacuated. Chico-based Action News Now reported the hospital was eventually destroyed by the fire.

Paradise, a town of about 27,000 people is 180 miles northeast of San Francisco. All of the town's residents were being evacuated from the Camp Fire.

© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.