Firefighters stop wind-driven blaze
No homes lost, no injuries reported as fire consumes 450 acres
In what could be an unfortunate preview of a busy season, an estimated 450 acres of grass burned Saturday in a fire that produced a huge plume of smoke north of Chico, leading to temporary evacuations along several roads.
Cal Fire’s Rick Carhart said that fire, named the Gunnison Fire, was reported at 1:45 p.m. by a resident on Munjar Road, who said a fire was burning towards his barn.
The wind-driven blaze didn’t claim any homes in the area, but by late Saturday afternoon, Carhart said firefighters were working to confirm if an outbuilding was affected.
As of press time, there were no reports of injuries.
The fire forced the evacuations of all of those on Denver Lane, Trinidad Drive and Gunnison Way. It later forced those living on Munjar Road and on all roads off Munjar to evacuate. Many of those who were forced to leave were stopped along
Meridian Road and Munjar Road as law enforcement set up a closure there.
By 4:10 p.m. the evacuation order for Munjar Road west of Coyote Song Road was lifted, but Coyote Song Road and everything east remained under an immediate evacuation order.
While the fire moved fast, growing to 70 acres by 2:50 p.m., and within an
hour was at 350 acres, Cal Fire had stopped its full forward progress by 4 p.m.
By then the fire had consumed about 450 acres and burned around some homes in the area, but didn’t touch them.
Firefighters from Chico, Paradise, and Tehama County were on the scene to offer assistance, along with three tankers and two helicopters.
A Red Flag Warning remains in place until Monday because of high winds and dry conditions.