The Latest: Human-caused fire shuts main California freeway
REDDING, Calif. (AP) — The Latest on California wildfires (all times local):
9:50 p.m.
Fire officials say a Northern California wildfire that shut down a main freeway between California and Oregon was human-caused.
The fire information website Inciweb reported the cause of the blaze that erupted Wednesday but didn’t provide details.
The blaze surged through trees and brush near Interstate 5 north of Redding. Drivers scrambled from trucks as flames engulfed hillsides near the roadway. At least two trucks burned.
By nightfall, the so-called Delta Fire had grown to some 3 square miles (about 8 square kilometers) north of San Francisco. Scattered rural homes in and around the Shasta-Trinity National Forest were ordered evacuated and the I-5 was closed for miles.
Amtrak delayed its Coast Starlight service from Sacramento to Oregon because of the fire.
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6 p.m.
A Northern California wildfire that started Wednesday and prompted the closure of Interstate 5 has exploded to 2,000 acres (about 3 square miles).
The Shasta-Trinity National Forest fire service updated the size of the fire in an incident report released about 6 p.m. Wednesday.
It said the fire was zero percent contained.
Earlier, officials had said the fire was reported around noon and within hours had grown to 500 acres (0.8 square miles).
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4:40 p.m.
A fast-growing wildfire in Northern California has prompted officials to close both directions of Interstate 5 connecting California to Oregon.
Shasta-Trinity National Forest officials said in messages posted on Twitter and in an incident report that the interstate is closed from 10 miles (16 kilometers) north of Redding to an area 4 miles (6.5 kilometers) south of Mount Shasta.
The incident report said the fire that started Wednesday afternoon had exploded to 500 acres. The Delta Fire comes just weeks after a devastating fire destroyed nearly 1,100 homes and killed eight people in the same area.
The Shasta County Sheriff’s office was evacuating people on both sides of Interstate 5. An evacuation center was set up at the Mt. Shasta Community Center.
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3:15 p.m.
A forest fire in California’s eastern Sierra Nevada continued to grow Wednesday, and the effect on travel was increasing, officials said.
State Route 108 was closed from the Alpine-Mono county line to U.S. 395, which was already shut down in the mountainous region about 200 miles (320 kilometers) east of Sacramento, the California Department of Transportation said.
Additional firefighting resources were summoned as the blaze grew to more than 4½ square miles (11.6 square kilometers).
The closure of U.S. 395 extends from the town of Bridgeport to just south of the community of Walker, Caltrans said.
The so-called Boot Fire began Tuesday in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. Evacuation orders remained in place for the Bootleg, Chris Flat and Sonora Bridge campgrounds. Unspecified structures are threatened in the Burchum Flats area east of Walker Canyon.
To the west, another fire in El Dorado County has prompted evacuations and road closures.
