A fire burning in Plumas County is the largest in California so far this season.
By Saturday evening the Walker Fire had burned 24,040 acres (37 square miles) and was 5 percent contained, CalFire said.
It started Wednesday in the Plumas National Forest about 15 miles northeast of Quincy. The cause has not been determined.
The Plumas County and Lassen County sheriffs offices ordered mandatory evacuations for:
- Genesee Valley Road corridor.
- Ward Creek area.
- Flournoy Bridge area.
- From Antelope Lake to the Plumas County line.
- Highway 395 from Thunder Mountain Road (Wales Canyon) to Laufman Grade (Old Highway 59), including the communities of Milford and Brockman Canyon.
Road closures include Janesville Grade, Genesee Valley Road south of Flournoy Bridge, and Antelope/Indian Creek Road from the Flournoy Bridge to Antelope Dam.
Highway 395 remained open to through traffic late Saturday.
Crews were preparing structures in Murdock Crossing and Franks Valley so they can be better protected if the fire reaches those communities, incident commander Dave Updike said in a report to the press on Saturday night.
After explosive growth late Friday, the fires progression slowed Saturday because of cloud cover and reduced fuel as it reached the burn scar from the 2007 Antelope Fire, said the incident report Saturday from the Plumas National Forest.
Two other large fires burning in Northern California were started by lightning strikes on Thursday:
Red Bank Fire, Tehama County: 8,838 acres, 15 percent contained. Burning west of Red Bluff in steep, rocky terrain.
