Current Situation: Fire crews continue making progress to contain the Sugar Fire within the Beckwourth Complex.

Containment operations are the most challenging between Diamond Face and Dixie Lookout, where fire activity and steep terrain make it difficult for crews to engage the fire directly. Fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters are being used to help control the fire until firefighters can safely enter the area. As a precaution, fire crews are working to locate alternative areas to build containment lines in the Spade Road and Ramelli Creek area, where two spot fires were located.

In the Doyle Grade area, firefighters were able to add hose lines to strengthen the combination of handlines, dozer lines and railroad lines which are containing the fire.

From Scott Road, heading northeast to Doyle, as well as from Dixie Look out, south to Maddalena, the fire has had no additional growth.  Crews are conducting patrols to continue to search for and eliminate any residual patches of heat along the containment lines.

Tuesday was the last day of the excessive heat warning, but temperatures will remain several degrees above what is normally expected at this time of year. Southwest winds will be a steady 5-10 miles-per-hour, increasing to 10-20 mph, with gusts up to 28 mph in the afternoon.   

Evacuations: Mandatory and voluntary evacuations remain in place. Some areas of Lassen County and Plumas County have been downgraded. Please check your local county’s social media pages for the latest on evacuations in your area, and be sure to register for your county’s CodeRed emergency alert system:

·      Plumas County: https://public.coderedweb.com/CNE/en-US/6EB9E0DB3133

·      Lassen County: https://public.coderedweb.com/CNE/en-US/B69B31DD99B6?isMobile=false

·      Washoe County: https://public.coderedweb.com/CNE/en-US/169EBBD0A3AE

Evacuation centers:

·      Lassen County Fairgrounds: 195 Russel Ave. Susanville, CA.

·      Proctor R. Hug High School: 2880 Sutro St, Reno, NV 89512

·      Reno-Sparks Livestock Events Center: 1350 N Wells Ave, Reno, NV.

Road Closures: There is a Plumas National Forest closure order in effect surrounding the fire's perimeter, which includes several roads. Highway 395 is now open. Please monitor Caltrans's District 2 website or Twitter feed for updated highway closure information.

Forest Closure: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/closures/7601/

Air Quality: For further information on smoke conditions and air quality, visit www.airnow.gov

 Tuesday, July 13, 2021 as of 12:00 PM 

 PRESS RELEASE 7/13/2021 9am
 BECKWOURTH COMPLEX FIRE
 EVACUATION STATUS UPDATE

 Current Situation: Fire crews continue fighting the Sugar Fire both on land and by air. Fire crews were particularly active in the Doyle Grade Road and Frenchman Boulevard area at the northern flank of the fire. Dozers and hand crews are working to construct contingency line at Meadowview Loop, ahead of the flame front to halt the fire’s progression into this area. There is still a lot of fire activity near Ramelli Creek. Due to steep terrain, crews were unable to conduct direct fire suppression and control operations. Fixed wing and helicopter air operations are using a combination of water and fire retardant in these areas. Crews are constructing control line in the Sugarloaf area. Spot fires were located between the dozer line at Diamond Face and Dixie Lookout. Crews were able to contain them quickly.

 Current Situation: Firefighters were successful in gaining 23% containment along the south side of the fire, where crews will continue with mop up today.

Current Situation: Despite a 22,600 acre growth on the Sugar Fire yesterday, firefighters were successful in holding the fire on the south and southwestern flanks, while catching all slopovers along highway 395, which forced the closure of the highway at 4:30 p.m. yesterday. Firefighters also worked hard to reach 99% containment on the Dotta Fire. 

Indirect dozer line was constructed in several areas for structure protection, including behind Dixie Valley to Dixie Lookout. Firefighters also progressed in constructing dozer lines past the town of Doyle, behind structures along Old Highway 395 and Bernice Lane. 

Beckwourth Complex Saturday evening update: the fire is now at 61,252 acres and 9% containment. Today the fire was extremely active, reaching US highway 395 this afternoon which forced a closure of a portion of the highway.
Evacuations have been very dynamic today and are changing frequently. Please check your county's facebook page for more information:Plumas County Sheriff's OfficeLassen County Sheriff's OfficeWashoe County Sheriff's OfficeFollow Caltrans District 2 for the latest on highway closure information.You can also watch our Facebook Live community meeting from 7:00 p.m. today here: https://www.facebook.com/USFSPlumas/videos/1154210285060106

UPDATE AS OF 4:40 PM
MILFORD AREA IS ALSO UNDER EVACUATION WARNING
EMERGENCY PRESS RELEASE 7/10/2021 BECKWOURTH COMPLEX FIRE

EXPANDED MANDATORY EVACUATION ORDERA Mandatory Evacuation Order has been expanded to include:
• Everything west of US 395 from the intersection of County Road A26 and US 395 south to the Lassen/Sierra County Line.

Evacuation Warnings have been extended for residents east of US 395 from County Road A25 including the town of Herlong, south to the Sierra/Lassen County line.

ROAD CLOSURE: US 395 is closedMAP

LINK TO EVACUATED AREAS (choose the “skip” option when prompted to answer location questions and scroll in and out to zoom for road names): https://community.zonehaven.com/...

SAFETY MESSAGE: People need to leave immediately. Please use caution and be courteous to your neighbors. Drive with your headlights on and yield to emergency personnel. Residents needing assistance evacuating are asked to call the non-emergency dispatch center at (530)257-6121. Deputies will be going door to door to make notification.

For information on what to bring with you in the event of an evacuation, go to www.readyforwildfire.org



PRESS RELEASE 7/10/2021 3PM
BECKWOURTH COMPLEX FIRE
EXPANDED MANDATORY EVACUATIONS

Mandatory Evacuation Orders have been issued for the following areas in Lassen County:
• Scott Road from Hwy 70 north to the end.• North and south sides of Doyle Grade from the Lassen/Plumas County line east to the intersection of US 395 but not including Laura Drive.
• Doyle Grade where it intersects with US 395 south to Red Rock Road on the west side of US 395 only.

Evacuation Warnings have been issued for the following areas:
• Residents both east and west of US 395 from County Road A26 south to Doyle Grade and from Red Rock Road south to the Sierra/Lassen County line.
• Residents east of US 395 from where it intersects with Doyle Grade south to Red Rock road.

MAP LINK TO EVACUATED AREAS (choose the “skip” option when prompted to answer location questions and scroll in and out to zoom for road names): https://community.zonehaven.com/...

SAFETY MESSAGE: People need to leave immediately. Please use caution and be courteous to your neighbors. Drive with your headlights on and yield to emergency personnel. Residents needing assistance evacuating are asked to call the non-emergency dispatch center at (530)257-6121. Deputies will be going door to door to make notification.

For information on what to bring with you in the event of an evacuation, go to www.readyforwildfire.org

 A virtual community meeting will be held tonight, Saturday at 7pm. It will be hosted on the Plumas National Forest Facebook Page. 

https://www.facebook.com/USFSPlumas

Current Situation: The Dotta Fire within the Beckwourth Complex exhibited no growth, while the Sugar Fire had intense growth of over 16,365 acres, progressing further northeast reaching Constantia Road, and spotting within one mile of Doyle Grade Road. Significant resources are staged in the area for structure protection, which is currently under a mandatory evacuation order among several other communities. This extreme fire behavior is due to several factors coming alignment with critically dry and receptive fuels, hot temperatures, topography arrangement and southwest winds funneling through them.  

After the inversion lifted yesterday afternoon, the fire developed a highly visible, large pyrocumulonimbus cloud, with reports of lightning on the east side of the fire. 

Indirect bulldozer line was constructed in several areas for structure protection, focusing on the south/southeastern flank of the fire behind community of Chilcoot, and the northeastern flank below residences on Constantia Road. Additional areas on the northwestern flank of the fire were scouted for constructing indirect lines down toward Dixie Valley to box the main body of the fire in, taking into consideration how frequent the spotting behavior is. 
 

During night operations, firefighters were successful in conducting strategic firing operations from bulldozer lines constructed on the south flank of the fire to guide fire back up into the main body of it. 

High potential for extremely active fire behavior with group torching, long-range spotting and pyrocumulous clouds development with powerful downdrafts which also increases intensity of fire behavior.  

Air operations are robust on this incident, including fixed and rotor wing. A night-flying helicopter is also available dedicated for any potential emergency firefighter extraction. 

A damage assessment team has been ordered to validate reports of structures damaged/lost. 

A virtual community meeting will be held this evening at 7:00 p.m. and streamed on the Plumas National Forest Facebook page.  

Evacuations: A new evacuation went into effect yesterday in Washoe County, Nevada, while evacuations in Plumas and Lassen Counties changed.  
 
Please check your local county’s social media pages for the latest on evacuations in your area, and be sure to register for your county’s CodeRed emergency alert system:  

• Plumas County: https://public.coderedweb.com/CNE/en-US/6EB9E0DB3133 

• Lassen County: https://public.coderedweb.com/CNE/en-US/B69B31DD99B6?isMobile=false  

• Washoe County: https://public.coderedweb.com/CNE/en-US/169EBBD0A3AE  
   

Evacuation centers: 

• Lassen County Fairgrounds: 195 Russel Ave. Susanville, CA.  

• Reno-Sparks Livestock Events Center: 1350 N Wells Ave, Reno, NV.  

Road Closures: There is a forest closure order in effect surrounding the fire's perimeter, which includes several roads. Please monitor Caltrans's website or Twitter feed for updated highway closure information. 

Forest Closure: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/closures/7601/  

Weather: Today will be hotter and dryer, with low relative humidity and highly receptive fuels. Winds will be slightly lighter, out of the southwest and gusting around 20 miles per hour. With the forecasted heat wave this weekend, temperatures are expected to be 15 degrees higher than normal, up to 100 degrees in the lower elevations. Poor humidity recoveries are expected at night.  

Air Quality: Beneath downdrafts produced by the collapsing of potential pyrocumulous clouds, significant smoke will be present in the most active areas of the fire. Visit www.airnow.gov for the most current smoke conditions in your area.