SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Fawn fire, burning in Shasta County north of Redding, was fully contained Saturday evening after more than a week of highly active wildfire conditions.
In a Saturday update, Cal Fire said the 8,578-acre blaze was 100% contained as of 6 p.m. The fire forced the evacuation of thousands of residents in the areas north of Redding to the shores of Shasta Lake and destroyed 185 structures, including dozens of homes. Three firefighters were hurt while fighting the blaze.
Cal Fire investigators suspect that the Fawn fire was intentionally set Sept. 22 near Fawndale Road and Radcliff Road. A 30-year-old Palo Alto woman was taken into custody shortly after the fire flared up and has been charged with felony arson.
As it grew rapidly, whipped by gusty winds in the area, evacuations were ordered for communities in the area as far south as the Tierra Oaks subdivision in Redding. Shasta College temporarily closed as it fell under an evacuation warning.
No evacuation orders are in place, although an evacuation warning remains for areas north of Clikapudi Creek, west of Wildcat Canyon and south of Juniper Drive. Cal Fire crews will continue to patrol the area of the fire for the next several days. A total of 50 fire personnel remain assigned to the fire.
— The Caldor fire, burning mostly in El Dorado County, is nearing full containment. The blaze is 221,775 acres and 91% contained. Although at one point the eastern half of El Dorado County was evacuated due to the rapidly expanding flames, few orders remain in place.
The area just south of Echo Summit is under a mandatory evacuation order, and several evacuation warnings are in place in the surrounding areas. Evacuation orders have been rolled back over the past few days as firefighters make a “final push toward containment,” according to Cal Fire.
— The Windy fire in Tulare County has charred 92,473 acres while containment has reached 52%. It’s one of two large fires threatening the southern Sierra. Crews worked through Saturday to strengthen containment lines in the Sequoia National Forest amid unseasonably warm and dry conditions.
To the north, the KNP Complex Fires in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park has chewed through 67,761 acres and is 20% contained. The fire continues to threaten ancient sequoia stands. At least one massive tree in the Giant Forest toppled after burning.
“Unfortunately we did lose one giant, but 99.9% of them look fine,” Mark Garrett, a fire spokesman, told the Los Angeles Times on Friday.
The fires, both sparked by lightning, have caused air quality conditions from Merced to Bakersfield to tank and will continue to “plague” the southern San Joaquin Valley for the next few days, said the Interagency Wildland Fire Air Quality Response Program.
— The Dixie fire, burning in parts of Butte, Plumas, Shasta, Lassen and Tehama counties, is also nearing containment. It is the largest wildfire of this year, and also the second-largest in California history, at 963,309 acres. The fire is 94% contained, U.S. Forest Service officials said.
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