Butte County Ca

Despite a little firefighting help from Mother Nature and the governor's office, a wind-blown blaze in Butte County spread to more than 8,000 acres Thursday, destroying about 30 homes and forcing more than 9,000 residents in a rural enclave to flee the flames. Fire leaped up canyons toward Paradise, a heavily wooded town of nearly 30,000 residents 15 miles northeast of Chico, despite improving conditions during a day that saw winds in Northern California ease for the first time in three days.

A teen was shot and wounded near the halftime show of a homecoming football game, police said. The unidentified male victim was airlifted from a field where the shooting occurred just outside the Biggs High School football stadium in Butte County, said Gridley Police Officer Jeff Gillming. The game was stopped for about 25 minutes, and the homecoming dance was canceled in this town of about 2,000 people.

Butte County authorities responding to a traffic accident Wednesday discovered a mobile methamphetamine lab. A driver towing a 30-foot trailer fled after it ran off the road into some brush. It didn't take long for fire officials to figure out why the driver had been eager to get away. Hoses, tubes and other equipment consistent with a meth lab were visible in the vehicle and trailer, said a spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Two Butte County sheriff's deputies who were involved in a gun battle at a remote mountain cabin were found dead, along with the suspected gunman. The gunman, Richard Gerald Bracklow, 46, had kept a cache of weapons in the cabin and was described by neighbors as a survivalist. The slain sheriff's deputies were identified as Lt. Leonard Estes, 61, a 30-year veteran of the force, and Deputy William Hunter, 26, who joined the department in 1998. The incident began about 5 p.m.

An investigation continued Saturday into a gun battle inside a remote mountain cabin where two Butte County Sheriff's deputies and the suspected gunman were found dead. Killed were sheriff's Lt. Larry Estes, 61, a 30-year department veteran known for his dry sense of humor and dedication; and Deputy Bill Hunter, 26, a canine officer who recently was married. Investigators have identified the gunman as Richard Gerald Bracklow, 46.

Butte County's affair with methamphetamine started the day the Hells Angels rumbled into town, looking for isolated real estate to use for lab sites. It was the early 1980s and Proposition 13, the anti-tax initiative, had knocked the sheriff's budget as flat as the county's picturesque tablelands. Only a part-time narcotics investigator remained for a 1,600-square-mile area.