Nevada County fire scorches 510 acres

More than 500 structures are threatened in hot, dry Northern California.

Hundreds of firefighters battled a growing wildfire in Northern California’s remote Nevada County amid hot, dry conditions on Tuesday, authorities said.

The Rices fire started around 2 p.m. in the area of Rices Crossing Road, north of the south fork of the Yuba River and west of the community of North San Juan, said Brian Estes, chief of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection’s Nevada-Yuba Placer Unit.

The fire had burned 510 acres and was 0% contained Tuesday night, Estes said. The cause remains under investigation.

Residents tried to put out the fire, but when the first units arrived about 10 minutes after authorities received a report, it was being driven by the dry, windy conditions, Estes said.

The fire was burning in brush, oak woodlands and heavy timber, moving to the north and northeast toward the Yuba River drainage, Estes said. Temperatures during the day were above 96 degrees, relative humidity was below 10% and winds of at least 8 mph were blowing out of the southwest.

“We do have reports of structures destroyed, but at this point we don’t have a confirmed number,” Estes said.

According to an earlier report, one structure had burned. More than 500 structures were threatened, including critical infrastructure such as water delivery and Pacific Gas & Electric Co. systems, Estes said. South Yuba River State Park was also threatened.

More than 350 personnel were assigned to the fire, expected to rise to more than 700 on Wednesday, Estes said.

“Our main efforts in the suppression … of this fire now are to keep it from dropping into the Yuba River drainage,” he said.