A 1600-acre wildfire exploded after passing thunderstorms swept through Eastern Plumas County around 2 p.m. yesterday, forcing multiple evacuations.
The Plumas National Forest reported that 4 initial fires were started, suspected by lightning striking near Whitehawk Ranch.
These developed into two separate fire the Mill Fire to the South of Portola and the Smith Fire to the NW of Portola. These fires are now being managed as the Gold complex fire per the Plumas County Sheriff’s Office. It is important to note these fires have not merged.
According to the latest reports this morning, the Smith fire is holding at 48 acres. Firefighters have made good progress and built dozer and hand lines around 50% of the perimeter. According to the incident command team, a small spot fire ¼ miles ahead is also lined and in mop-up status.
The Mill fire has been mapped at 1637 acres with no rapport of containment as of this morning.
This fire is burning off Martineck Rd. NE of Whitehawk and moving in an eastern direction.
Due to the fires highway 89 has been closed from A15 to Calpine.
Evacuation orders remain in place for the Valley Ranch area, Villas at Nakoma including the golf course and lodge, Iron Horse, the town of Delleker, and up around Lake Davis. Warnings also remain in place surrounding the city of Portola to County Rd A23
An evacuation center has been established at Quincy High School. Those with livestock can take their animals to the Plumas Sierra Fairgrounds, where a shelter has been established.
Temperatures are expected to reach the upper 90s today, and there is a slight chance of thunderstorms passing through the area by Wednesday.
As containment efforts continue on the Gold Complex we will keep you informed both at sierradailynews.com and on our facebook page JDX and KSUE news and weather.
For those who have not signed up for the county’s emergency alert system Genasys to receive tailored emergency notifications to your location you can do so by visiting the county’s website at plumas county .us.
