Wildfire forces campers to flee San Gabriel Canyon
Three firefighters are injured as crews battle several blazes across state
Firefighters are continuing to battle blazes across California, including a 166acre fire that prompted evacuations of campers and visitors at San Gabriel Canyon over the weekend.
The Fork fire started just before noon Sunday above Azusa on Highway 39 at the junction of East Fork Road, said Nathan Judy, a spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service. There is zero containment.
Two campgrounds were evacuated as were recreational visitors near streams and creeks, Judy said.
Three firefighters were injured — two of them heat related and one from a falling rock — Judy said. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
In Northern California, firefighters continue to battle the Delta fire, which had forced the shutdown of a stretch of Interstate 5.
As of Monday, the fire had burned 47,110 acres and was 5% contained, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
More than 2,000 firefighters are battling the blaze, Cal Fire officials said.
I-5 between Redding and Mt. Shasta was reopened Monday, with travel reduced to one lane in each direction for about 17 miles.
So far, traffic hasn’t been too heavy as cars and trucks return to the highway, said Lt. Kyle Foster, commander of the California Highway Patrol’s Mount Shasta office.
Even though one lane of the freeway is open in both directions, exits remain closed — even to local residents — between the Vollmers and Sims Road exits.
The closed lanes are being saved for firefighters, Department of Transportation workers and contract crews.
Over the last few days, as drivers were routed around I-5, traffic backed up for several hours along Routes 299 and 89 — roads not built for the level of traffic seen on the interstate.
On Thursday, traffic worsened on Route 299 when a car and a semitruck collided near Oak Run, leaving the truck jackknifed across both lanes of one of the main detours around I-5.
“We always want to avoid detouring traffic as much as possible because Interstate 5 on any given day has 20,000 vehicles travel down it,” Foster said.
Just as the CHP cautions passengers during a winter weather advisory to have plenty of water, food and fuel before leaving home, the agency warned travelers taking the detour to do the same.
In Burney, a town of about 3,200 on Route 299, USA Gasoline closed its diesel pumps because of low fuel levels.
One store worker who lives on Route 89 had to leave home an hour early just to get to work on time.
The store ran out of several drinks as customers, stuck in traffic, streamed inside.
“The very first thing we ran out of was water,” store cashier Mathew Pixley said.
The Delta fire started Wednesday about 1 p.m. Investigators are not certain what sparked it, but have said it was definitely humancaused.
The fire’s behavior has been extreme from the start. Motorists trapped on the freeway described towering f lames up to 300 feet high. So far, there have been no fatalities.
A portion of the Delta fire has also connected with the nearby Hirz fire, which is 95% contained at 46,150 acres.
In Napa County, the Snell fire has burned 2,490 acres and is 45% contained.