PLUMAS COUNTY MANDATORY EVACUATION ORDER

A MANDATORY Evacuation order has been issued for the Community of Meadow Valley due to a wildfire. This includes all areas in between Big Creek/Bucks Lake Road intersection, east to Snake Lake Road. You should leave the area immediately! If you remain, emergency personnel may not be able to help you. An evacuation center is being set up at the Springs of Hope Church located at 59 Bell Lane Quincy. Emergency personnel will be going door to door to conduct in person notifications.

Current Situation

South Zone: Due to increased humidity and lower temperatures, firefighters continued to make good progress gaining containment from Sly Creek Reservoir to Little Grass Valley. The fire remained active in the steep and rugged terrain of Onion Valley. Crews will also continue to construct indirect hand line along Fingerboard Ridge, a north/south ridgeline west of LaPorte Road. Containment lines along the northeast portion of the fire continue to hold.

North Zone: Priorities last night focused on containing spot fires, the largest of which is now approximately 200 acres on the northwest side of Red Mountain. Firefighters made good progress, and this area will continue to be the priority for resources today. Crews are working hard to contain the spots using existing roads, while also preparing indirect containment lines west to Oro-Quincy Highway.

In the western portion of the fire, crews held the fire within containment lines and plan to continue preparing Oro-Quincy Highway from the Four Trees area to Big Bend, working west to the Camp Fire burn scar. West Zone: See CAL FIRE Team 4 updates at: www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/2020/8/18/north-complex-fire/

Structure protection groups are in place surrounding the fire’s perimeter to protect nearby communities in both the North and South Zones. Tactical firing operations are not likely in either zone due to the incoming wind event, but will be executed only in a defensive manner if needed.

Current Situation

South Zone:

Today crews strengthened containment lines and mopped up remaining heat north of Sly Creek Reservoir along Mooreville Ridge. Southwest winds caused the fire to remain active in Onion Valley, keeping the priority of reinforcing indirect fire line along ridges and roads tying into LaPorte Road.

Containment lines along the northeast portion of the fire continue to hold. Firefighters will continue patrolling, backhauling equipment and initiating road repairs.

North Zone:

As expected, fire behavior increased on Red Mountain today. Two spot fires approximately 11 and 23 acres in size were located in the Grizzly Lake area, south of Oro-Quincy Highway. Crews are working hard to contain the spots using existing roads, while also preparing indirect containment lines west to Oro-Quincy Highway. In the western portion of the fire, crews held the fire within containment lines and plan to continue preparing Oro-Quincy Highway north of Big Bend.

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

Structure protection groups are in place surrounding the fire’s perimeter to protect nearby communities in both the North and South Zones. Tactical firing operations are unlikely in either zone due to the incoming wind event, but will be executed only in a defensive manner if needed.

On September 8th, 2020 one of the North Complex fires, the Claremont-Bear made a historic run after a spot fire jumped the Middle Fork of the Feather River from an uncontained fire edge. The fire ran from Cleghorn Bar to Lake Oroville as winds, terrain and dry fuels came into perfect alignment. The spot fire traveled more than 30 miles in 16 hours and spotted across Lake Oroville.

The spot fire was reported immediately and broadcast as an update at the beginning of the 1000hrs Cooperator Meeting being live streamed. 30 minutes later the spot fire was reported to be 1,000 acres.

Immediate notifications were made by Liaison Officers to the Plumas County Sheriff’s Office, Butte County Sheriff’s Office and Yuba County Sheriff’s Office. At 1108hrs, evacuation of Lumpkin Ridge was recommended to the Butte County Sheriff’s Office.

Air Attack reported the spot fire with an estimated size of 5,000 acres and a running crown fire at 1130hrs. Additional calls were immediately placed to the Butte County Sheriff’s Office with an updated recommendation to evacuate everything 5 miles west of the Butte-Plumas County line. Yuba County Sheriff’s office was called at the same time with a recommendation to evacuate everyone inside a 4-mile radius around Strawberry Valley.

Special thanks are extended to Butte County Sheriff Honea. Prior to entering unified command, and at the request of my team’s Liaison Officer, he sent one of his detectives to embed directly with the team’s Operations Section Chief to plan, coordinate and inform the immediate emergency notification, and evacuation of an estimated 23,000 people. This close coordination and direct communication pipeline enabled immediate notification of the fire movement and additional spot fires to jurisdictional and cooperating officers as they performed the evacuation.

The spot fire moved 20 miles beyond all fire prediction models identified. New spot fires in advance of the primary progression were reported up to 4 miles ahead of the fire front. Large clusters of spot fires were joining so rapidly that huge areas were igniting at once creating a very dangerous fire environment.

The Butte County Sheriff’s Office and all who helped execute their jurisdictional evacuation responsibility are to be commended for their effort to evacuate all affected communities and citizens.

-Jay Kurth, Incident Commander

California Interagency Incident Management Team 4

FireThe North Complex Fire is now 273,335 acres and 36%contained. The fire remained active in a few places yesterday, but crews continue to make progress. Moderate fire behavior is expected today.

Current Situation

South Zone:
Last night containment lines held due reduced fire behavior with cooler temperatures and lighter winds. Crews did have a very small slopover on the south side of the Little Grass Valley Dam, however, they were able to contain it. Firefighters will continue focusing on reinforcing fire lines from Minerva Bar south to the Pacific Crest Trail.

Along Mooreville Ridge, crews plan to continue mop up and improve containment lines while also reinforcing bulldozer lines along LaPorte Road. Along the northeast portion of the fire containment lines are holding well. Firefighters plan to continue patrolling, backhauling equipment and initiating road repairs.

North Zone:
Fire behavior continued to moderate at Red Mountain, and firefighters were successful in tying in their lines together using a small firing operation as planned. Spotting behavior is still expected to occur today in a receptively dry fuel bed in the 1999 Bucks Fire scar. Firefighters are continually monitoring the area, both on the ground and by unmanned aerial systems (drones). Crews will also be constructing and strengthening lines and prepping road systems west to Oro-Quincy Road. Firefighters will continue constructing bulldozer line by anchoring along the Oro-Quincy Road west into the Camp Fire burn scar. West Zone: See CAL FIRE Team 4 updates at: www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/2020/8/18/north-complex-fire/

Structure protection groups are in place surrounding the fire’s perimeter to protect nearby communities in both the North and South Zones. Firing operations in either zone will be dependent on weather conditions.

Current Situation

North Zone:
The fire was most active today on Red Mountain where winds cast spot fires approximately one half-mile ahead of the slopover that formed overnight. Firefighters focused their efforts to contain them here and in Willow Creek area where additional spotting occurred, and plan to continue picking them up throughout the night. Crews also constructed bulldozer line on both the east and west sides of this slopover to box it in at Oro-Quincy Road.

Moving west, firefighters were successful in containing other previous small spot fires and slopovers, while holding the fire along constructed bulldozer lines.

To the northeast side of the fire, containment lines are holding well. Firefighters plan to continue patrolling, while also backhauling equipment and initiating road repairs.

#NorthComplex Smoke Outlook for September 15th, 2020

Fire

The North Complex is now 269,218 acres and 39% contained. The fire was active in a few places yesterday, but crews continue to make progress. Conditions remain favorable for active fire behavior today.

Smoke

Moderate winds yesterday led to improvements in air quality in some areas, but brought additional smoke from several fires to other areas. With SW winds, smoke from the North Complex will continue to be transported towards areas between Chester and Milford, including Susanville, Janesville, Greenville, and Westwood. The Reno, Carson City, and Tahoe areas will continue to see smoke from the Creek, SQF, and Slink Fires. Smoke will settle into valleys tonight, including the Central Valley in the Oroville and Chico areas, and then slowly dissipate the following mornings. Smoke will continue to come over the Sierra from the Central Valley, causing widespread impacts. Similar conditions are expected tomorrow.

Current Situation

North Zone:
Fire activity was active last night as winds surfaced resulting in a slopover that moved north through Granite Basin, on the south side of Oro Quincy Highway. Today this area will be the top priority of firefighters.

Other areas of the fire remained within the current footprint with no major movement from Willow Creek west to Big Bend. Firefighters will continue to work on containing spot fires from yesterday. Structure protection groups are in place surrounding the fire’s perimeter to protect nearby communities.

South Zone:
Last night crews held the fire within containment lines and conducted significant mop up. Most fire activity was located in Onion Valley and by Wilson-Gomez Mine due to the winds. Today, if weather conditions allow, crews will continue firing east to Chimney Rock, which will eventually tie into a small section of LaPorte Road (several miles north of the town of La Porte). Crews plan to hold and mop up along Mooreville Ridge from Sly Creek Reservoir up to Little Grass Valley, while also constructing and reinforcing bulldozer lines. West Zone: Please see CAL FIRE Team 4 updates at: www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/2020/8/18/north-complex-fire/

Video operational updates and live broadcasts can be viewed on Plumas National Forest’s Facebook page.

Evacuations and Road Closures

Mandatory evacuation orders and advisories are in place for Butte, Plumas, and Yuba Counties. Please check your respective county’s websites and Facebook pages for the latest on evacuations and road closures.

Weather and Air Quality

An approaching low pressure system will bring southwest winds with gusts up to 18-25 mph through tomorrow. There will be little temperature or humidity change. Smoke outlook: fires.airfire.org/outlooks/EasternSierra or www.airnow.gov/

Forest Closure

Due to unprecedented and historic fire conditions throughout the state, the USDA Forest Service Pacific Southwest Region has extended the closure of eighteen National Forests in California, including the Plumas National Forest. https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd804760.pdf

Meetings are being broadcast daily through Zoom: 
Cooperators Meeting daily at 10 a.m. https://usfs.zoomgov.com/j/1602646317  
Planning Meeting daily at 7 p.m. https://usfs.zoomgov.com/j/1600484186

Current Situation

North Zone: Red Flag conditions tested containment lines today, however they held within the current perimeter. Resources in the most active areas of the fire made great progress today building containment lines from Lookout Rock down to Big Bend.

Despite red flag conditions, favorable winds allowed for a small firing operation earlier today at Four Trees to ensure the fire’s edge was kept in check, guiding it up to Oroville Quincy Highway. One 40-acre spot fire was caught on the north side of the highway by Frog Rock, but firefighters are confident they will contain it tonight.

Structure protection groups are in place surrounding the fire’s perimeter to protect nearby communities.