North Complex Fire AM Update 9-28-2020

Current Situation

North & South Zone:

The fire area continued to experience strong winds out of the northeast overnight that are not expected to subside until this evening. Gusts will be 30-40 mph and up to 60 mph in some locations. These winds have resulted in increased fire activity across the fire area, causing spot fires outside of containment lines.

Late yesterday afternoon a spot fire became established in French Hotel Creek, approximately two miles south of Grizzly Forebay, and continued to grow in a southwesterly direction. In response, Butte and Plumas county sheriffs’ offices issued evacuation notices. Please refer to their websites and Facebook pages for the latest information.

Containment lines held strong elsewhere along the fire perimeter, including Onion Valley.

Resources will be focused on containing the spot fire in French Hotel Creek, as well as monitoring the rest of the fire’s perimeter and engaging any other areas of heat or spot fires that may appear.

The fire area is currently under a Red Flag Warning until 9 p.m. tonight, which is issued for critical fire weather including dry and windy conditions. Additionally, there is a Wind Advisory until 2 p.m. today.

The public is being asked to respect the closures and stay out of the area for public and for firefighter safety. Firefighters are still finding members of the public inside the fire closure area.

West Zone: See CAL FIRE Team 4 updates at: www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/2020/8/18/north-complex-fire/

Evacuations and Road Closures

New evacuation orders and warnings were issued late yesterday for areas northwest of the fire along the Highway 70 corridor. These are in addition to existing orders by the Sheriffs for Butte, Plumas and Yuba counties. Please check your respective county’s websites and Facebook pages for the latest updates. You can also sign up with your county for reverse 911 notifications by registering with the CODE RED system.

Smoke outlook: fires.airfire.org/outlooks/EasternSierra or www.airnow.gov/

Plumas National Forest closures: https://www.fs.usda.gov/alerts/plumas/alerts-notices